


The Winners

by charliethesnail



Series: When Chaos Raises You [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Fables: The Wolf Among Us (Video Game), Mass Effect Trilogy, Saints Row
Genre: A lot of deaths, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Child Abuse, F/M, Friendship, Gangs, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Loss, Loss of Parent(s), Multiverse, No Romance, Original Character(s), POV Alternating, Slow Burn, Sports, Suicide Attempt, Teen Pregnancy, Timeline Shenanigans, Timeline hops, Trauma, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-26
Updated: 2019-11-04
Packaged: 2019-12-18 08:11:34
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 8
Words: 65,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18245873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/charliethesnail/pseuds/charliethesnail
Summary: Set in the general Mass Effect universe, but with as many characters from my four favourite game franchises crammed in as possible.  Best friends Charlie Massani, Carlotta Santiago, Johnny Gat, Bigby Wolf, Varric Tethras and Jane Shepard are tired of all the gang activity on Omega, and decide to join Archangel's vigilante crew to take them out.  Mostly based in the world of Mass Effect, but with a lot of Saints Row and the Wolf Among Us plot and characters included as well.





	1. Char or: When chaos raises you

**Author's Note:**

> I am breaking my own rules by posting the fic before it is actually finished, but I am using it as a motivation to actually finish a story for once (I swear I could write a 500 page long fic with all the unfinished ones I have chilling in my laptop).
> 
> I've had this story banging around my head for a while now, and decided to write it down. It will contain a lot of my favourite characters from my favourite fandoms. It won't be as canon-divergent as JSWM is with regards to the Mass Effect universe, but knowing me I'll probably ending up tweaking things so that it fits my plot better (sorry, I'm annoying like that). Also, I suspect that this is going to be super slow-burn (I've written three chapters thus far, and the plot is only now being introduced).
> 
> Finally, this first chapter contains a trigger warning for discussions surrounding rape, murder and death

When chaos raises you, you can’t expect the rest of your life to be any different. 

Someone told me that once.  Mind you, he was drunk at the time, and he died soon afterwards, so he probably can’t be taken for his word, but I find myself thinking about this a lot.  Especially recently.  Can a person change his destiny, change his upbringing?  Or are our paths preordained, and it’s our job just to live out the pattern.

Someone else told me that you can’t choose your family.

Well, that I know is false.

 .....

“Absolutely not,” Ver says flatly.

“Ah shit come on, V,” Johnny says, grinning.  “I’m asking you as a friend.  Wingman me here.”

“No,” Ver repeats.  “I’m not getting between you and her.  I don’t have a death wish.”

“You do,” Johnny points out, fairly reasonably for him.

“Not one that involves a painful death,” Ver corrects himself.

“Aw fuck, you’re fucking scared of Charlie,” Johnny realises, his grin widening.

“As are you if you’re asking for a wingman for your latest squeeze, idiot,” Ver scowls.

Johnny rolls his eyes.  “You have a girlfriend,” he says. “It’s perfect, like a double date or whatever.”

“With your best friend along as a fifth wheel?” Ver asks.  “Yeah.  Real romantic, Johnny.  Remind me never to date you.”

“Fine,” Johnny sighs.  “Char?  What about it?”

“Staying way out of this one, sorry Johnny,” I say.

“You’re her sister…”

“Exactly why I should not be involved,” I say.  “Why don’t you just tell Charlie?”

“Because…because, shit it’s complicated.”

Ver rolls his eyes this time. “Where the fuck is Charlie at any rate?” he asks.

“Who knows,” I say.  “Either drunk or asleep.”

The door to Johnny’s apartment opens and Jane and Bigby walk in.  As always, I snicker at the sight of the two of them together, Bigby tall and muscular, and Jane short and slight.

“Fear not, oh fair maidens with heaving bosoms, help has arrived,” Jane says grandly, placing the bag she is carrying onto the kitchen counter.  “Jesus, Johnny, would it kill you to clean up once in a while?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, who is the only one who has a place of his own and is thus continuously hosting his lazy fucking friends every hour of the day?” Johnny asks irritably.  “Oh that’s right.  This asshole.  Hey, Bigby.”

“Yeah?” Bigby asks cautiously.

“You’re dating that asari, aren’t you?” Johnny asks.  “The one from Fumi.”

“I wouldn’t say dating,” Bigby answered.

“Great,” Johnny says.  “Feel like bringing her along on a double-date with me and Aisha, and then accidentally run into Charlie so that she can meet Aisha?”

“Absolutely not, but thanks for the offer,” Bigby says.

“Why does no one want to help me out with this?” Johnny asks.

“Ooh let’s think about this,” Jane says.  “You hiding things from a woman with documented, extreme anger issues, and then springing them in the presence of her best friends?  Yeah, can’t see how that won’t end in carnage.”

“So does that mean…”

“Yeah, I’m staying far out of this one,” she says.

“Why don’t you just tell her, Johnny?” I ask.  “I mean, sure Charlie has anger issues, but she wants you to be happy.  I mean, she doesn’t blame you that things went bad between the two of you.”

“Char, your naivity is so fucking adorable,” Johnny says irritably.

“Are we going to eat this food or did I waste my time getting us warm shit,” Bigby snaps. 

“Right,” Ver says.  “Let’s eat.”

“What about Charlie though?” Johnny asks.

“She decided to be late, she can eat cold food or use your microwave,” Bigby says.

Johnny sighs deeply, but takes the box Jane holds out to him.  “For the record, the Bloodpack confiscated my microwave two days ago,” he says.

“It’s a wonder they didn’t confiscate your whole flat, the state it’s in.”

“You know, Jane, you may the shortest and youngest of us, but that doesn’t mean that I can’t beat the everloving Christ out of you.”

“Charming,” Jane says.  She hands me a box of food.  I return to my seat on the couch and open the box with little excitement.  Sure enough, it is varren meat and rice again.

“You guys couldn’t spring for a vegetable huh?” Johnny asks.

“Johnny, you have been complaining the entire day,” Ver says.  “For the love of God, please, we are all begging you, shut up just for a little while.  We don’t need to continuously hear your voice.”

“I don’t know, I quite like his voice,” a voice says from the door.  It is Charlie, our sixth member.  “Any food left?”

“We have a box here for you,” Jane says, holding a box out from her perch on the kitchen counter.

Charlie approaches her.  Jane holds it out of her reach.  “Why you so late, Charlie?  What are you hiding?”

Charlie snatches the box from Jane’s hand.  “That trick only works when you have a bit of height over the other person,” she informs her, coming to sit next to me.

“Gee, thanks for being the second person in five minutes to remind me I’m short,” Jane says sarcastically.  “I don’t know where I’d be without you two.”

“Easy,” Johnny says.  “Dead on the streets.  Where were you, Charlie?”

“Brawl on the border,” Charlie says.  “I had to take a detour.”

“Never mind that, did you get it?” Ver asks.

“Yup,” Charlie says.  She reaches into the belt of her shorts and pulls out a handgun.

“Not very big, is it?” Johnny asks in disappointment.

“Size isn’t everything, Gat,” Jane quips.

“If you want to be seen as something more than your height, come up with better jokes, slut,” Johnny says amiably.  “Can I see, Charlie?”

“Knock yourself out,” Charlie says, handing the pistol over to him, and digging into her dinner.  “How was the clinic, Char?”

“Slow day,” I say.  “Although if there’s a brawl on the border, I’m sure Alex will call me in any moment now.”

“You’ve been on for forty eight hours, I’m sure he’ll call one of the boys in,” Bigby says comfortingly.  “Hey, Johnny, want to stop hogging the fucking gun and let the rest of us have a look.”

“I’ll hand it over when I’m ready,” Johnny says.

“For the love of God, stop being jackass.”

Johnny scowls, and hands the handgun over to Bigby.  “Good weight,” he remarks holding it in his left hand.

“You know much about weapons, do you, B?” Charlie asks, amused.

He laughs and then carefully aims the pistol at the poster on Johnny’s wall.  “Fire that thing in my place, and you’ll need to find another flat to mooch in,” Johnny warns.

“Jane?” Charlie asks as Bigby hands the gun back to her.  “As resident expert, do you want to make a comment?”

Jane sighs and hops from the counter.  Charlie hands her the pistol.  “Bigby’s right,” she says.  “Good weight.  And the barrel is straight, which is good.  Won’t need to compensate your aiming or anything.  How much you pay for it?”

“Hundred thousand creds,” Charlie answers.

“That’s a steal,” Jane remarks.  “You done good, Big C.”

“Thanks,” Charlie says, taking the pistol back from her.  “So what’s the plan, my bitches?”

“Chess?” Jane suggests.

“Dear God, for such a jock, you’re a real nerd,” Bigby says.

“I never claimed to be a jock, Bigby, you all made that assumption.”

Bigby puts on a husky female voice.  “I know karate and gymnastics, I am super fast, even though I’m asthmatic, I enjoy playing fighting krogan for fun because I am clinically insane, and I’m only thirteen.”

“So?” Jane asks.  “That doesn’t make me a jock.”

“Do you know what the word jock means, Jane?” I ask.

“If I’m a jock, then so is she.”  Jane points at Charlie.

“Damn fucking straight, motherfucker,” Charlie flexes her biceps and pretends to kiss them.  “You think these bitches come easy?  They take a lot of work.”

“You don’t know gymnastics though, do you?” Ver asks.  “Face it, out of you girls, Jane is probably the most athletic.”

“I don’t mind facing it,” I yawn.  I am notoriously clumsy.

“So what are we doing tonight?” Johnny asks.

“Not fucking chess,” Charlie says decisively.

“Char brought coffee home today,” Ver remembers.

“Oooh for real?” Jane asks.

“Doesn’t your dad force feed you coffee?” Johnny asks.

“Right,” Jane says.  “I need a fix every half an hour or I get cranky.”

“Who gave you coffee?” Bigby asks.

“A vorcha patient,” I say.  “I’m one hundred per cent certain he filched it off a human, but I’m not complaining.”

“This is good news,” Charlie proclaims.  “Wait, Johnny, the Bloodpack haven’t claimed your coffee machine, right?”

“Bitch, ain’t no fucking krogan taking my coffee machine,” Johnny replies.  “I will literally let them shoot me before that happens.”

“No krogan is,” Ver corrects.  “Ain’t no is a double negative.  Makes the sentence redundant.”

Johnny glares at him.  “See, this is why no one likes you,” he says.

I yawn again.  “Sorry to be a downer, guys, but I’m dead,” I say.  “I should probably find a place to lay my head.”

“You can take my bed, Char,” Johnny says at once.

“No, really-,”

“Motherfucker, you have another place to crash that I don’t know about?” he asks.  “Didn’t think so.  Take my bed, I’ll crash on the couch once these assholes have left.”

“Ok, thanks.”  Standing up makes me light headed.  I head for the bedroom door, and pause.  “By the way, Charlie: Johnny has something he wants to tell you.”

“Thanks Char,” Johnny groans.  “Thanks a lot.”

“Night all,” I wave a hand behind me.  “See you assholes tomorrow.”

 .....

My father was furious.  “Get out,” he snarled.

“I have-,” I began. 

“Get out,” he snarled.  “Don’t make me tell you again.”

I sighed theatrically and rolled my eyes.  “Fine, I’m leaving,” I sighed and headed for the door.

“And don’t come back ever again,” he shouted after me. 

Charlie was waiting for me around the corner from the house.  She was taller than me, but as skinny, and her face was dirty.  Her dark hair was tied back in matted ponytail, and she wore a pair of jeans two sizes too big for her and a dirty, thick jacket.  Like mine, her feet were bare.

“Did you get it?” she asked.  I held up the ring.  “Good job,” she said appreciatively.  “Let’s go.”

“He’s going to kill me when he finds out what I did,” I said, following her to the plaza. 

“Doesn’t matter, you and I will be long gone by then,” she answered.  “Come on.”

Harrot was at his stall when we got there.  “Insincerely, what can I do for you?” he asked.

I slapped the ring onto the counter.  “How much?” I asked.

“Ponderously, where did you get it?” he asked.

“Not what I asked,” I said.

“Deceptively, fifty thousand credits,” Harrot said.

“Fuck off, it’s worth more than that,” Charlie exclaimed.

“Irritably, do you kiss your mother with that mouth, human?  I think not,” Harrot said.

“Listen, this thing is worth way more than fifty thousand creds,” I said pragmatically.

“Deceptively, it is not,” Harrot said.

“It-you literally just said deceptively,” I exclaimed

“What does that mean?” Charlie whispered in my ear. 

“Means he’s lying,” I replied.

“Listen, you giant, creepy seal motherfucker, give us what this ring is worth or we take our business elsewhere,” Charlie snapped.

“Sceptically, and who else on Omega would risk angering Zaeed Massani and Vido Santiago by dealing stolen goods from their daughters?” Harrot asked.

He had a point.  Our fathers only fenced their stolen goods to Harrot, because they knew that no one would dare touch him.  He had built an empire.

I glanced at Charlie, who shrugged.  Fifty thousand credits wouldn’t be enough to get us off of Omega, but it would fill our stomachs for a couple of days.

“Fine,” I said.  “Fifty thousand credits.”

..... 

We went to the food market after this and bought a large bowl of asari squid soup, which we shared in the doorway of a block of flats.

“That fucking asshole totally filched us,” Charlie said, slurping down a tentacle.

“Good soup though,” I remarked.

“Your dad is going to kill you,” she pointed out.

I shrugged.  “If I’m ever let back into the house,” I said.  “Chances are strong at the moment that that won’t happen.”

Charlie didn’t point out that he always eventually let me back into the house, if only for a few days.  Instead she said, “I wish we could buy a gun.”

“Absolutely not,” I said, shuddering.

“I know you’ve had bad experiences-,”

“And you haven’t?” I asked.  “Besides, right now we blend in.  The moment we start carrying guns, people start to wonder what we got to hide.  Nah, we should rather save this money, see if we can steal anything else.”

“Fair,” she sighed.  “You’re so smart, Char.”

“You’re just dumb,” I said.  “Guess we’re spending the night at Afterlife again, huh?”

 .....

Unfortunately, our bravado of saving the money didn’t get very far.  Having hot food and full bellies was too enjoyable, and within three days the money had been spent.  We tried scavenging for food after this in the trashbins, which wielded some results, until we were shot at by an annoyed krogan.  After that, we were too scared to try again.

“This is fucked up,” I mumbled on the third day without food.  We had gone without food before, but never for so long, and I felt like there was a hole in my stomach.

“Yeah,” Charlie answered.  My head was leaned against her shoulder.  We were sitting at a booth in Afterlife.  On my right was a rowdy group of vorcha.  On Charlie’s left two yahg were seriously discussing something in their native language.

“Guess we didn’t need those spiced buns,” Charlie continued.

“Guess not,” I said.  “They were good though, weren’t they?”

“Sure were,” she said.  she patted my dirty hair.  “Go to sleep,” she said.  “You didn’t sleep any last night.”

 .....

I woke up to the sound of Charlie talking to someone.  “What’s up?” I mumbled, sitting up and reaching for my knife, before realising we were still in Afterlife.

“Hey,” Charlie said.  “You sleep well?”

“I suppose,” I said.  I examined our companion, who turned out to be a boy of around the same age as Charlie and I.  He had shaggy, dark brown hair that was slightly too long and large brown eyes.

He smiled at me.  “Hey,” he said.  “My name is Bigby.  Well, not really.  It’s Brian.  But everyone calls me Bigby.”

“I’m Charlie,” I said.

“Wait, I thought you’re Charlie,” he said to Charlie.

“Yeah, it’s short for Carlotta,” Charlie said.  “Her name is really Charlie.  She’s named after me.  She’s called Char though.”

“Charlie and Char?” he asked.

“That’s right,” she answered.  “Char, apparently Bigby also lives in Gozu, but on the third level and close to the Zeta border.  Char works in the clinic there.  She’s going to be a Cobweb.”

“You have to stop telling people that,” I mumbled as Bigby’s eyes lit up in wonder.

“You must be smart,” he remarked.

“I get by,” I said.  “What are you doing here?”

“Oh, my mom works in the bar,” he said.  “I’m waiting for her to finish her shift.  She should be done soon.”

Sure enough, a small, slight woman approached us a few moments later.  “I’m done,” she said to Bigby, who immediately sprang to his feet.  Her eyes fell on us.  “Oh, who are your friends, Bigby?” she asked.

“These are Charlie and Carlotta,” Bigby introduced us.  “They also live in Gozu.  Their dads kicked them out of the house the other day, so they’re staying here for now.”

I scowled at Charlie, who shrugged.

“Why did your fathers kick you out of the house?” Bigby’s mother asked.

“He doesn’t like us very much,” I shrugged.

“And where are your mothers?” she asked.

“Mine’s on Alchera,” I said.

“Mine’s at home,” Charlie said.  “She doesn’t really care much for me though.”

“So, who’s been looking after you?” Bigby’s mother asked.

“No one,” Charlie said.  “We take care of each other.”

Bigby’s mother sighed.  “Well, would the two of you like to join us for dinner?” she asked.

Immediately, Charlie and I stiffened.  “That’s quite alright, thank you,” I said politely but stiffly.

“Mom, they think we’re going to kidnap them now,” Bigby complained.

“I’m not a trafficker,” Bigby’s mom assured us.  “But I have food at home and plenty of it.  And Bigby needs more friends.”

“Sheesh, Mom, seriously.”

“Look, is there someone you trust, someone who you can tell where you’re going?” she asked.

I spied Jordan Shepard across the dance floor, dressed in the black armour of Aria’s guard.  “I can tell him,” I said, nodding in his direction.

“Alright, well let’s go,” Mrs Wolf said. 

We crossed the dance floor and approached Jordan.  He had the twins with him, both of whom looked bored out of their minds.

“Evening girls,” Jordan said to us.  “Twins, say hello to the Charlies.”

“Hey,” Jane and Jean chorused boredly.

“How can I help you ladies?” he asked, ignoring his daughters.

“This is-,”

“How are you, Mr Shepard,” Mrs Wolf asked.

“I’m well, Mrs Wolf,” Jordan asked.  “How can I help you today?”

“These girls have recently made friends with my son, Bigby,” she explained.  “I have invited them for dinner, but naturally they don’t trust me.  They say that they can trust you.  If you haven’t heard from one of them by, shall we say, midnight, will you come looking for them at my place?”

“Of course, Mrs Wolf,” Jordan answered.  He crouched down in front of us.  “Don’t worry, Charlies.  You can trust her.  She’s a good woman.”

I glanced at Charlie, who shrugged again.  “Alright,” she said unwillingly.  “Fresh food.  How bad can it be?”

..... 

My alarm wakes me up at four the next morning, and I lie there for a few minutes.  Despite having slept for close to seven hours, I still feel exhausted, and my body aches, a fact that is not helped by Charlie being asleep practically on top of me.  Eventually, I gather my strength, push her gently off (she mumbles something in her sleep), get out of bed and stumble to the bathroom to shower.

It seems that there was a power cut some time during the night, because the water in the shower is barely warm.  I wash hurriedly and go back to Johnny’s bedroom to dress.  Charlie wakes briefly as I am brushing my hair.

“Hey,” she mumbles from the bed.  “You ok?”

“I’m not not ok,” I reply.  “You sleep well?”  
“Yeah, we just went to bed fucking late,” she answers.  “Johnny had us playing twister until three in the morning.”

“Sounds fun,” I say.

“Yeah,” she mumbles, yawning.  She sits up on the edge of the bed.  “Hey Char, did you know about Johnny and this girl from Kenzo?”

“Yeah,” I admit.

“For how long?” she lets off another yawn.

“Couple of days,” I say unconvincingly.

She frowns.  “You’re a really shit liar,” she says.

“Yup,” I say.  I go over and kiss her forehead.  “Go back to sleep,” I whisper.  “I’ll see you later.”

“We might be meeting up at Ver’s tonight,” she says.

“Ok, well let me know what the plan is,” I answer.

“Will do,” she says.  “Love you, Char.”

“Love you too,” I say.  “Sleep well.”

Bigby is sitting at the kitchen counter when I go out into the living room.  “Morning,” he says quietly, handing me a mug of black coffee.  Johnny snores cheerfully from the couch behind him.

“Morning,” I reply.  “You not in bed yet?”

“I only just got back from taking Jane home,” he answers.  “I’ll probably sleep at home though.  Not much space here.  Thought I could walk you to work first.”

“Thanks,” I say. I sip the coffee and shudder.  It’s bitter as anything.

“You sleep ok?” Bigby asks as I drink the coffee down.

“Yeah,” I say.  “Except I found two pairs of Johnny’s underwear in the bed.”

“Unsurprising,” Bigby snorts.

I wash my now empty mug out at the sink and leave it to dry.

“Ready to go?” he asks as I heft my backpack onto my back.

“Yup,” I say. 

The district is fairly quiet this early in the morning.  There are a few krogan and asari out and about, but other than that, everyone is probably asleep.

“How did Charlie take the news?” I ask as we walk.

“Fairly well,” Bigby answers.  “She was quite hurt that he was scared to tell her though.  I told him she wouldn’t care.”

“Do you reckon he still has feelings for her?” I ask.  “Maybe that’s why he was scared to tell her.”

Bigby laughs.  “Men like to pretend that all women have the hots for them,” he says.

“Is that a fact?” I ask.

“Oh, you’d be surprised,” he says.  He tweaks my ponytail.  “And how about you?  Got anything exciting planned for today?”

“A gallbladder removal,” I say.  “And possibly whatever carnage happened last night.  Felix was on, so I’m hoping he handled it.”

“Excited for the gallbladder removal?” Bigby asks.

“Meh,” I say.  “I’ve done a ton of those.  I’m hoping to do an organ transplant at some point, but those are pretty rare out here.  Aren’t a lot of donors hanging around.”

“Well, if one of you guys were dying, I’d be willing to give up a kidney or half a liver,” he says.

“I’ll bare that in mind,” I say.  “Charlie says that we might meet up at Ver’s place?”

“Yeah, his brother’s out on some business…thing offworld, and his mom is at his grandma,” Bigby says.  “He’s got the place to himself.”

“Sounds good,” I say.

“One of us will get you from work though,” Bigby continues.  I nod.  This generally goes without saying.  We (especially, Charlie, Jane and me) didn’t travel unaccompanied unless avoided (or, in Charlie’s case, we weren’t at the meetup points and didn’t answer our omnitool).

The clinic is quiet when I get there, which I take as a good sign until I see Lymera, the night receptionist.  Her face is drawn, and she looks exhausted.

“Bad night?” I ask lightly, pushing my backpack into my locker.

“There was a lot of bad fighting on the border between Gozu and Zeta,” she explains.  “And then it started up in Carrd.  The wounded only stopped coming in an hour ago.”

“You didn’t call me in?” I ask.

“You needed your rest, Alex insisted,” she says.  “There’s going to be an emergency round in about fifteen sol minutes though, you should get dressed.”

“Right,” I say, going into our tiny staff room, into which a table with five chairs, a chest of drawers and a bed are shoved.  A blonde man is asleep on the bed.  Felix was on last night.  Mordin must have sent to get some shut eye before the meeting. 

I open the chest of drawers and pull out a set of ancient yellow scrubs.  They look extremely unhygienic and I would rather not were them, but Alex insists it’s so that we’re recognisable as professionals.

Alex and Dorian come in as I’m tying my shoelaces.  Alex looks exhausted, Dorian less so, probably because he was off yesterday.

“I hear last night was hell,” I whisper to Alex.

“It was,” he replies quietly.  The resemblance between him and Felix is striking, with both of them having fair hair and piercing blue eyes.  “Can’t promise that it’s over yet either.  There are going to be some changes in the shifts for the rest of the week.  I’ll explain more when Mordin and the nurses come in.”

Mordin comes in a few minutes later, accompanied by Pasha and Lymera.  Alex goes and wakes Felix, who stretches, yawns and comes and sits down at the table.  Pasha and Lymera sit on the bed and watch us carefully.

“Morning everyone,” Mordin says once we are all settled.  “Trust everyone is well.  As have probably been made aware, there has been something of a war between the Eclipse and the Blue Suns, on the border between Gozu and Zeta Districts.  Talons are using this opportunity to try and take Carrd District from Eclipse.  As can understand, mass casualties.  Ward is currently full to capacity, and expect more wounded to come in soon.  Need to implement an emergency plan to deal with the wounded.”

“Dorian, you had a full twenty four hours off yesterday, and Charlie, you had twelve,” Alex says.  “Felix worked a forty eight, which means that he would ordinarily have at least twelve hours off.”

“I’m ok to work longer,” Felix says.  He stifles a yawn.

Alex glares at him.  “What is the first cause of stupid mistakes, Felix?” he asks.

“Fatigue,” Felix sighs.

“Felix gets six hours for now,” Alex says.  “You will go home and rest, is that understood?”

“Yes,” Felix says, rolling his eyes.

“As of midday, you will come in, where you will be on call in case Charlie, Dorian, Mordin or I need you,” Alex continues.  “Mordin will sleep for three hours sol now, and then replace me as chief physician.  Dorian and I will be discharging all the non-emergent cases.  Pasha, cancel all appointments and surgeries for today.  We need to keep the operating room clear.  Charlie, you will be in the clinic…”

“Alone?” I ask.

“Will join after sleep,” Mordin says.

“Anything non-emergent gets pushed to when we can see them,” Alex tells me.  “Treat what you can yourself, and admit the rest.  Dorian and I will deal with them.  You know how to triage.”

“You taught me that when I was ten,” I say.

“Good,” Alex says.  “Dorian, you and I will treat the admitted cases as needs be.  I doubt you and Charlie will get off tonight, but we can maybe see about getting you two home tomorrow, if possible.”

“I’m on for forty eight hours,” Dorian says.

“Even better,” Alex says.  “Ok people, communication and thoroughness are the words for today.  Yes, we don’t want to clog the clinic and the theatres, but we also don’t want to send people home who are still in a poor condition.  Use your assistants and trust your instincts.  Coffee will be made available at all times today, and if you feel yourself getting too tired to treat properly, come to Mordin or I.  We’ll see about getting you a couple of hours of sleep.”

 .....

I have three assistants assigned to me: Daniel, Marian and Vistus.  I try not to look too nervous as I explain to them what the plan for the day is.  This is the first time that I will be left alone in the clinic, and whilst I know all the procedures I could possibly need, I am hit with a burst of stage fright.

At first, it is quiet in the clinic, but soon the wounded start trickling in.  The fighting has started up again, I am informed as I treat a turian man’s broken leg.  The wounds start out superficial, a few stitches from broken glass, a couple of broken limbs that need to be bound or put into casts.  Soon though, the more serious wounds start filtering in to the clinic, and I am forced to start making decisions as to who gets seen first.  The complaints start up soon after.

“Listen lady, we were here first,” a man says loudly.  “How is he being seen first?”

“Because half his head has been blown away,” I say irritably.  “He’s more likely to die than your…girlfriend?  Daughter?”

“Sister,” he snaps.

“Please calm yourself, sir,” Pasha, who has taken over from Lymera, says.  “Ms Massani is well-trained and she will make sure that everyone is seen.”

The man flinches at my last name.  “Right,” he mumbles, slowly.  He sits down again.

“Keep an eye on his sister’s vitals,” I whisper to Vistus, who cocks his head earnestly.

I don’t manage to save the man who has half his face missing, nor the next patient, who was shot in the chest.  We see the sister next, and I stich up the wound on her neck and send her home with warnings to come back to the clinic should the wound start bleeding again.

The next patient has half his chest blown away.  I stitch up the arteries that were compromised, pack the wound with as much gauze as it can take, and send him to Dorian and Alex to deal with. 

Mordin comes back soon afterwards, and starts seeing patients as well.  One patient pays us with a loaf of bread, and we quickly divide it between us, making sure to leave some for Dorian, Alex and the ward assistants.

And so the day goes.  Triage, stitch, send to the ward, triage, send home, break for coffee, break for the bathroom, triage, send to the morgue.  Felix comes in at around six PM and immediately starts helping me in the clinic so that Mordin can go home to sleep properly.

I have a thumping headache by the time midnight rolls around and Alex shoves a tube of nutrient paste into my hand.  I squeeze it into my mouth and swallow without tasting anything.

Finally, at close to two AM, the flow of patients slows to a trickle, and I find myself in the staff room, staring at yet another mug of coffee.  It may be the fatigue, but it seems the coffee is staring back at me.

“Rough day,” Dorian remarks, coming in.

“Yeah,” I say.  “We lost a lot.”

Dorian snorts.  “This is Terminus,” he says.  “We’re always going to lose a lot.  That’s just how it goes for us.”  He pours himself a mug of coffee and sits down opposite me.  “You look exhausted,” he says.

“I’m fine,” I say shortly.

“Uh huh,” he says.  “You going to drink that or are you waiting for it to talk to you.”

I take a half-hearted sip.  “Never thought we’d go through a month’s stock of coffee in one day,” I say.

“Good news is I’m seeing the batarian tomorrow again, so I’ll probably replenish the supply,” he answers.  There is a silence.  “You did good today,” he says abruptly.

“You weren’t there,” I say.

“Psh,” Dorian waves a hand.  “Alex wouldn’t have left you alone if he didn’t think you could handle it, and he wouldn’t have put Felix with you either.  He would have taken over.  Trust me, Charlie.  You did good.”

I smile ruefully and down the coffee.  It tastes like vinegar, and I almost gag.  “Thanks,” I say when I am able to talk again.

Lymera sticks her head around the door.  “Charlie, a patient in the clinic,” she says.

“I can take it if you want,” Dorian says, watching me.

I groan and crack my neck.  “I got it,” I say and follow Lymera into the clinic.

“It’s a human girl,” Lymera tells me in an undertone.  “Maybe fifteen.  She says she’s been raped.”

I shudder internally.  I have seen a few of those cases today, but had to send them directly to reception for medication without talking to them because they didn’t triage high enough.  At least I would have the time now.

The girl is already waiting in my treatment room with what looks like a sister sitting next to her.

“Good morning,” I say.  “My name is Charlie.  I am a Cobweb trainee working here at the clinic.  You are Tara, is that correct?”

Tara nods.  Her face is dirty and bloody, and she is hunched over as if to protect her core.

“It was those…fucking Blue Suns,” the sister says.  “She was walking by with her bondmate, and they just…fell on her.”

“Were you there?” I ask.

“No, some bystanders brought her home,” the sister says.  “I brought her here in case she got pregnant, or, you know…” her voice trails off.

“I can do a full workup,” I hear my voice say.  “What happened to her bondmate?”

“They killed her before…” again her voice trails off.  When she speaks again, her voice is bitter.  “They said that they wanted to remind her that she’s human.”

I nod once.  “Tara,” I say gently.  “Do you want to lie down for me, and, uh, take your trousers off?”

“What’s the use,” she says.  Her voice tears.  “It’s not as if anyone is going to do anything about it.”

I swallow.  “If there was more than one…I need to make sure that there’s no internal injury,” I say.  “You could get an infection or bleed out.  I want to prevent that.”

She glares up at me, her face furious, before standing up painfully and pulling her trousers and underwear off.  I notice blood on both articles.

“This is going to be uncomfortable,” I say, picking the speculum up and trying to warm it in my hands.  She lies back and I gently put her legs in the stirrups.

She starts crying.  “Oh God,” she sobs.  “Oh God.  I can still see his face.” 

“I’m sorry,” I say quietly.  “They shouldn’t have done this to your bondmate.  And this shouldn’t have happened.”

Eventually, she stops crying.  “His eyes were green like yours,” she whispers after we are all silent.  My heart goes cold.  “But he only had one.”

 .....

Alex sends me home at six that morning.  I don’t contact one of the boys to walk me home, although I desperately want to sleep.  Instead, I make my way to the big house on the edge of Gozu Plaza.

No one stops me as I walk through the front door, and up the stairs to the second floor.  My father is in the third room down the hall of the second floor.  He is sitting at the desk against the wall, reading something on the datapad, but he looks up when I walk through the door.

“Charlie,” he says.  “This is a surprise.”

“I know what you did,” I say.  I am trembling with rage.

“Ok,” he says uncertainly.  “When and what did I do?”  His good eye narrows.  “You don’t usually visit any more.  What’s this about?”

“You raped that girl,” I said.  My voice is low, as it always does when I’m furious.  “She is fifteen years old, and you murdered her bondmate and raped her.”

“Ah,” he says.  “Well, my dear, that had to be done.  She was holding hands with an asari.”

“And that gives you an excuse why?” I whisper-shout.

“As I’m sure you’re aware, we have been at war with the Eclipse,” my father says.  “The asari are affiliated with the Eclipse, and that girl touching her girlfriend like that, well, it looks bad.  I had to remind her where her allegiances lie.”

“And what if someone did that to me?” I ask, my voice getting marginally stronger.  “What then?”

“I am confident that I raised you well enough to know that you won’t fraternise with our enemies,” he says.

“You didn’t,” I say.  “You didn’t raise me.”

He rises and strikes me once through the face.  “You may not live here anymore, but I am still your father and you will treat me as such.”

I laugh.  “Fuck you,” I say.  “She was still a virgin, you know that right?  It wasn’t as if she was screwing asari.”

“Yes, I know,” he says.

I take a deep breath.  “You will pay for this,” I say.  “God forgive me, but you can’t get away with this.  I can still accept the murder and the carnage.  Not this.”

I turn and leave the room, my father’s laughter in my ears.


	2. Ver or: You can kill me if you want

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I invented a sport in JSWM, and decided to include it in this chapter. I'll create a document with the rules of the sport for those that are of the curious nature.

Char comes in at close to eight.  Her face is pale, and there are large, bruise-coloured circles under her eyes.  There is a handprint on her left cheek.

“Hey,” Bigby says, getting up.  He, Jane and I are the only ones already awake.  “Why didn’t you call one of us to fetch you?”

“I needed to be alone for a bit,” she says shortly.  “Is there any breakfast?”

I hurriedly get to my feet and dish her a bowl of cereal.  “What happened to your face?” Jane asks as I cut strawberries and bananas into the bowl.

“Nothing,” Char answers.  “I went to my dad’s.  It went as well as it usually does.”

“Why did you do that?” I ask, handing her the bowl.

“I needed to…discuss something with him,” she says, shaking her head as I offer her coffee.  “I want to go to bed as soon as I’m done here,” she explains.

“How was the shift?” Bigby asks.

“Hell,” Char answers.

“Yeah, we could hear the gunfire from here,” Jane says, as Char starts eating.  “Sounds like it was rough.”

“That’s certainly one word for it,” Char replies.  Her usually calm face is unusually murderous, and I wonder what exactly happened on the shift.

“When are you on again?” Bigby asks.

“Possibly from twelve, which is why I need some sleep,” she says.  “I probably managed two hours last night.”

“Ok, well Charlie and Johnny are both in my room,” I say.  “There should be space on the bed for you.”  Char finishes the cereal and gets up to wash it.  “You go on to bed,” I say firmly, taking the bowl from her.  “I’ll take care of this.”

Her shoulders slump.  “Thanks guys,” she says.  “See you all in a bit.”

Once she’s out of earshot, Jane says, “Sheesh, I wonder what happened on that shift.  She’s usually far more upbeat than this.”

I dump the bowl in the sink.  Someone will take care of it later.  “Dunno,” Bigby says, sounding concerned.  “They need to give her more than six hours off though.  She needs rest.”

 .....

My father owned one of the eezo mines in the asteroid above Omega, making him the second-richest person on Omega (Aria, who owns all the other mines, is the first richest).  This meant that I had a somewhat unique upbringing for the Terminus Systems, and Omega especially.  My family has never gone hungry.  In frequent power outages to “spare the generators”, our estate almost invariably is spared (we also have enough money for my father to have built an estate in Tuhi District, into which Johnny’s flat could probably fit at least fifty times).  And my father was able to afford to pay someone from Citadel Space to educate myself and my brother Bartrand.

When Bartrand turned thirteen, my father started taking him to the office to teach him how things are done, in the hopes that he would one day take over the business.  When I turned thirteen, two years later, he started doing the same for me.

One of my father’s foremen, Joshua Wolf, was tasked with showing me around the mine.  On the day, he was accompanied by two teenage boys who didn’t look to be that much older than I was.

“This is my son, Brian,” he said, indicating the taller of the two, who nodded, unsmilingly at me.  “And my nephew, Benjamin.”  Benjamin, the shorter and more muscular one, scowled.  “They work the mines with me when one of the others we’re short-staffed,” Joshua explained.  “Boys, this is Mr Tethras’ son, Varric.  I need to show him around the mine.”

We took a shuttle to the mine, and then a cart through the narrow and winding tunnels.  After we had dropped Benjamin and Brian off at their worksite, Joshua asked me whether I was planning on joining the family business.

“I’d rather not,” I said unwillingly.

“Why not?” he asked.

“My brother inherited the business-sense in the family,” I said.  “I usually get confused by the stuff needed to keep the business afloat.”  This was only partly the truth.

We were silent for the rest of the tour, apart from Joshua pointing out various landmarks and machinery used in keeping the mine going.

“Did you enjoy it?” my father asked when I returned to the main office.

“Yeah, it was great,” I lied.

 .....

Ever since I was a young boy, I loved stories.  At first, I read them, but soon I started telling them as well.  I quickly realised however, that, in order to be able to tell the stories that I liked, those of drama and tragedy, I would need to venture away from my life of comfort and boredom.

At first I only went as far as the neighbouring Doru District, but I soon travelled further, exploring all twelve of Omega’s districts, spending hours in the markets, observing everyone I saw there, or else walking through the narrow back alleys.  I often sat in Afterlife, which was full, no matter the time of day, hoping to catch a glimpse of our enigmatic ruler.  Looking back on it, it was a wonder that I wasn’t attacked sooner, because I was extremely reckless to be wandering Omega without company.

One day, soon after I started accompanying my father to the office, I had some free time and decided to go to Gozu District.  There had been a batarian prophet the last time I had been there, and I wanted to see if I could find him again.  I was successful, and after spending a few hours watching him, I decided to go to the nearby food market to find some lunch.  Stupidly, I took a shortcut through one of Gozu’s many back alleys, and, as my luck would have it, I found my way blocked by a figure much taller than myself.  At the same time, something pressed into my ribs.

“Your omnitool,” a voice said in my ear.

Wordlessly, I unstrapped it from my wrist and handed it to the man in front of me.  “What’s the code?” he asked, pressing a button on its side.

I told him, and he keyed it in.  The omnitool lit up.  “I assume you have a different code for your creds,” he said, looking up.  I recognised his face, and he seemed to recognise me too, because he swore loudly.  “Johnny, we fucked it up,” he said.

“What do you mean?” the man behind me asked.

“It’s my dad’s fucking boss’s kid,” Brian snapped.

“It can’t be,” the one called Johnny said.

“Take a look, man,” Brian said.

Johnny spun me around.  “Jesus Christ,” he said in alarm.

“I thought your name was Benjamin,” I said stupidly.

“Shut the fuck up,” he snapped.  “What are we going to do, Bigby?”

“I don’t know this was your dumb idea,” Brian answered.  He put on a low, slow voice.  “’Hey Bigby.  Let’s rob that kid.  He looks rich, and we haven’t eaten in five days.’  Turns out the kid belongs to the man who’s paying for my family’s lack of food.  Who woulda thought.”

“We could shank him,” Benjamin said.

“That’s a smart fucking idea, Benjamin, murdering the son of the man who is best friends with the woman whose one rule is don’t fuck with me,” Brian snapped, glaring at his cousin over my head.  “I’m pretty sure this would count as fucking with her.”

“My dad isn’t actually friends with Aria,” I said.

“Shut up,” Brian and Benjamin both snapped at me.  Benjamin added a “Christ you’re dumb” for good measure.

“What’s going on out there?” a voice said from a doorway.  “Fucking hoodlums, I will fucking kill you.”

There was a loud bang, and Benjamin swore again.  “Come on,” he shouted, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me up the alley.

Back on the main causeway, he murmured in my ear, “Try any stupid shit, and I swear to the Lord that I will shank you and feed your body to the varren.”

“You can kill me if you want,” I said.  “I don’t mind.”

He gave me a strange look.  “I don’t know what the fuck is wrong with you, but I don’t want to catch it,” he said.  “You ok, Bigby?”

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Brian answered.  “Fucking krogan can’t shoot for shit.  Where are we going?”

Benjamin shrugged.  “You’re the brains of the operation, you tell me.”

“I have creds, and lots of it,” I said.  “I don’t mind buying you food if you haven’t eaten.”

“What is wrong with you?” Brian asked in frustration.  “You are seriously annoying to mug.”

“My father and brother don’t have much imagination, being business people and all,” I said. 

“And you do?” Brian asked.

“Well, I’m a story-teller, and by extension I’m quite pragmatic,” I said.

“Neither of us knows what that means, asshole,” Benjamin said.

“I came here because I want to understand how normal people live,” I said. 

“That’s insulting,” Brian said.

“Look, I have too much money in general,” I said.  “I know that my father pays you too little, because it means that we get more.  I don’t mind changing that balance.”

“And what do you want in return?” he asked suspiciously.

I shrugged.  “Nothing,” I said honestly.  “Like I said, if you want to kill me, I don’t mind.”

Brian sighed.  “Fuck it,” he said.  “Johnny, put the knife away.”

“Are you shitting me?” Benjamin asked.

“Just do it, asshat,” Brian said.  The pressure in my ribs left.  “Come on,” Brian said to me.

 .....

They took me to a miserable apartment block near the main causeway in the Gozu District.  “You know, Varric is a dumb fucking name,” Benjamin told me as we climbed the stairs inside the block.

“Like Johnny is any better,” I said.  “Why are you called that in any case?  Your uncle introduced you as Benjamin.”

“It’s a nickname,” he said.  “We all got them.  We call this fucker Bigby, even though he has the lamest name of all.”

“Brian isn’t that bad,” I remarked.

“Yes it is,” Bigby grunted.

“He threatens grievous bodily harm to anyone who calls him Brian,” Johnny said, grinning.

“Yeah, which is why you should stop saying that name.”

The flat was on the top floor.  Inside, it was a mess, with rubbish strewn on the floor and dishes stacked in the basin in the tiny kitchen.  On a sofa sat an emaciated woman, watching what looked like an asari soap opera on the television, the only other piece of furniture in the room.  Next to her was a young girl, who was looking vacantly at the wall ahead of her.

The woman looked up.  “Bring any food with you?” she asked.

“Yeah, we’re planning on killing the kid and eating him,” Johnny said, giving me a little shake.  I smile half-heartedly. 

The woman frowns.  “Your sisters haven’t eaten at all today,” she told him.

“Yeah, I know Ma, thanks for the reminder,” Johnny said.  “Are the girls still here?”

“They could have brought a contribution.”

“Get back to your show, Mom,” Johnny said harshly.

He crossed the room to a door, which he pushed open.  The bedroom was in a slightly better state than the main room, although the mattress on the floor was stained and dirty.  On the mattress, three girls were seated, playing cards.  In the middle of the circle was a pile of matches.  All three look up when we walked in.

“Who’s this then?” the tallest of the girls asked. 

“This is Varric,” Johnny said.

“That’s a dumb fucking name,” the smallest girl said, grinning.  She looked far younger than her peers, who both seemed to be in their early teens. 

“Tell me about it,” Johnny said, flopping down on the mattress and disrupting the pile of matches in the centre of the circle, earning a tut from the tallest girl.

“So what’s he doing here then?” the youngest girl asked. 

“Well, this asshole thought it would be a good idea to rob him, given that he seems pretty well off,” Bigby said, sitting down against the wall.  The third girl glared at them both.

“And I take it he didn’t have creds?” the youngest girl asked lightly.

“I do have creds,” I said, earning a glare from everyone in the room.

“No, he’s my dad’s boss’s son,” Bigby said.  “But he said he’s willing to donate to our cause, so that’s alright.”

“Is that so?” the oldest girl asked, her eyes lighting up.  “Well, Varric, why don’t you pop a squat?  Tell us about yourself.”

 .....

The week goes by peacefully enough.  The war drops down for a bit, and Char is even given the weekend off.  Bigby picks up a few shifts in the mine, Jane spends most of her time training with her dad and siblings, and Charlie and Johnny pass the time salvaging in the lower parts of the district.  By the time Friday rolls around, we actually have enough credits to buy proper food.  Friday evening, after Char and Bigby come off their shifts, we all meet up at Johnny’s flat to put our earnings together, after which Char makes up a shopping list.  She gives it to Charlie and me.

“Why us?” Charlie complains.

“Because I’m going to be spending tomorrow cleaning this flat,” Char answers.  “Seriously, Johnny, this is the last time.  You have got to learn how to clean.”

“I come from a broken home,” Johnny complains.  “Who’s going to teach me that shit?”

“We all come from broken homes,” Char says, a threatening look in her eyes.  “Well, not Bigby,” she amends.  “Still, do you see us complaining about it?”

Johnny is undeterred.  “Yeah, but you’re girls,” he says.  “Cleaning is in your genes.”

All three girls turn and glare at him.  “Do you want to say that shit again?” Jane snaps.

“Yeah, because I seriously wouldn’t mind punching you in the face right now, motherfucker,” Charlie snaps.

“Yo, chill ladies,” Johnny says.  “I was joking.”

“Really?” Jane says.  “Because none of us are laughing.  Ver, you’re not laughing, are you?”

“Um, no,” I squeak, as three pairs of eyes turn to glare at me.

“Bigby’s not laughing,” Jane continues.

“Staying out of this one, thanks Jane,” Bigby says boredly, not looking up from his book.

“Jeez, I’m sorry, wow,” Johnny says.

Charlie looks at Char and Jane.  “I don’t think he’s sorry, what do you two think?” she asks.

“Definitely not,” Jane says decisively.

“Johnny, you should stay home tomorrow and help Char clean the flat,” Charlie says sweetly.

Johnny snorts.  “Yeah, like that’s going to happen,” he says.

“You disagree with this motion?” Charlie asks.  “Fine, let’s vote on it.  All those in favour of Johnny staying home and helping Char clean.”  All three the girls raised their hands.  After a glare from Charlie, I do too.  “All those opposed?”

Johnny raises his hand.  “Bigby,” he says.  “Come on man.”

“Still uninvolved,” Bigby murmurs, turning another page of his book.

“Motion stands, sorry Johnny, no salvaging for you tomorrow,” Jane says sweetly.

“Where do you think my contribution towards the food you’re buying tomorrow comes from?” Johnny blusters.

“Johnny,” Bigby says, not looking up.  “Please shut up for a bit, yeah?”

A while later the girls go out to get nutrient paste for dinner, and Johnny rounds on Bigby.  “You couldn’t back me up for once, could you?” he snaps.  “Some best friend you are.”

Bigby puts his book down and glares at Johnny.  “For the love of Christ, Johnny, I want to stay fucking uninvolved in your arguments with the girls that, at the moment, you four seem so in love with having, but clearly you don’t fucking understand that,” he says irritably.

“I just want your opinion,” Johnny objects obstinately.

Bigby closes his eyes briefly.  “Fine, here’s my fucking opinion,” he says.  “Stop treating the girls like crap.  They aren’t your mother, and it’s about time you realised that not everyone on this shitty space station is out to get you.”

“We don’t need them,” Johnny snaps.

Bigby gets up and punches Johnny hard on the jaw.  “Deal with your shit, man,” he snaps.  “Right now, the worst you’ve had to deal with is your shitty stepdad, losing your job and occasionally getting into fights with strangers, all of which you can handle, but sometime soon something that you can’t will happen, and then you’ll remember that the only people you actually have in this galaxy, the ones who will take care of you no matter what, are those three.  Take your head out of your fucking ass, Johnny.  You’re smarter than this.”

Johnny scowls at Bigby, before sitting down next to me on the sofa.  There’s an awful silence. 

“How’s the book?” I ask Bigby tentatively. 

“It’s shit,” he says.  “These kids are retards.  No one says ‘see Kathy run’.  Dumbest shit ever.  I feel like punching these brats.”

“Yes, well not to spoil the ending or anything, but Kathy and Mark survive with not a hiding in sight,” I say.

Bigby scowls, but picks the book up again.  “Want to play gin?” Johnny asks me.

I sigh.  I am terrible at cards and even worse at gambling.  “Sure,” I say.

 .....

By the time the girls arrive, I already owe Johnny my house, my shuttle and my first born.  Charlie hands out the nutrient paste, whilst Johnny deals to Char, who wages her virginity, and Jane, who wages her first pay cheque.

I bite the cap off of the nutrient paste tube and gulp it down in one swallow.  I remember gagging the first time I tried nutrient paste and Char kindly explaining to me that the goal was not to taste it.

A few rounds later, and we all owe Johnny our lives in servitude.  He stretches and yawns.  “Yo, Ver, go to the kitchen cupboard, bring out the bottle of shard wine,” he says, getting up and collecting glasses from the kitchen counter.

I bring the bottle, which is almost empty, and he pours out a glass for each of us.  I go first.  “To Andvar Tethras,” I say, raising my glass.

“To Maria Antonio,” Charlie goes next.

“Ashley Williams,” Jane says.

“To Rudy Goldenburg,” Johnny says.

“To Rudy Goldenburg,” Bigby echoes.

“To Tara,” Char says quietly.

We all drink silently.  Bigby breaks the silence.  “Who wants to go dancing?” he asks.

 .....

Charlie and I leave fairly early the next morning for the underground markets.  “Ki…kilantro,” Charlie says uncertainly, reading Char’s shopping list.

“Cilantro,” I correct.  “The C is sibilant.”

“Sure whatever,” Charlie says.  “What the fuck is cilantro then?”

“Coriander,” I say.

“Beef (cow if possible), tomatoes, milk, chutney?” she gives me a questioning look, and I nod.  “Well, we got our work cut out if we’re going to satisfy Momma Char.  Let’s get to it.”

“Hey Charlie, can I ask you something?” I ask.

“Shoot,” she says, puffing on her cigarette.

“Why do you think we work?” I ask.

“Well, Char and Bigby are the only two of us that really work,” Charlie says.  “Johnny and I are too lazy, Jane is too young and you’re too rich.”

“That’s not what I meant,” I say.  “I mean, we all come from different backgrounds.  I’m rich, like you said.  Char and you are the daughters of the leaders of Omega’s biggest gang.  Johnny’s dad is dead and his mom’s a sand head.  Jane’s parents work for Aria.  How are we as close as we are?”

“Because my mom died and Char’s mom left and so we had to raise each other,” Charlie says.  “And Johnny’s dad died and his mom shacked up with that piece of shit Dan, so he needed a decent family looking out for him, which turned out to be Bigby’s.  Then Char and I met Bigby, and we suddenly had a place to sleep that wasn’t the streets.  Jane got into shit way over her head, so we helped out, and you decided to adopt us as your pet community service project.”

“It’s that simple?” I ask.

“Of course it is,” Charlie says.  “I don’t know what it is with you and Char, making things into something they’re not.”

“But we fight all the time,” I say.

“Bitch, of course we do,” she says.  “Families fight all the time.  But I know that, even though Char gives me shit for fighting, she will be there to patch me up, or Johnny will insult the fuck out of me, but will be there to punch the Jesus out of whoever else talks shit of me.  Bigby will give me his share of the food when I haven’t eaten in two days even though he hasn’t eaten in three, and Jane will help me with my reading even though her dad will give her shit for skipping out on her training.”

“And what about me?” I ask.

Charlie snorts dismissively.  “You’re better than all of us,” she says.

 .....

The flat is spick and span by the time we get back.  Johnny is sitting on the couch, a disgruntled expression on his face.  Next to him is his sister, Lou-Ellen, who gets up and gives us both a hug and a kiss.

“Hey kid,” Charlie says, returning the hug.  Lou-Ellen hums excitedly under her breath, before returning to Johnny.  “How was the cleaning?” Charlie asks him.

“Fucking crap,” he said.  “We used fucking vinegar for the floor and windows and fucking baking powder for the toilet and sinks.  It’s like we were baking a fucking disgusting cake or something.  And the smell-”

“Is gone?” Jane quips, coming in from the balcony.  “Smell that, Johnny.  The smell of clean.”

“You assholes expect me to do this every week?” he groans.

“If you want to keep the rats and roaches out, yeah we do,” Charlie says.

“I always wanted pets,” Johnny shrugs. 

“Not those pets,” Char says from the kitchen.  “A woman brought her kid in to the clinic once because rats ate her son’s eyelids whilst he slept.”

“Jesus,” Johnny shudders and instinctively puts his arm around Lou-Ellen, who hums and pats his head.

“You get everything?” Char asks Charlie and me.

“Yeah,” I say.  “No cow meat though.  Had to get you varren.”

Char sighs.  “It’s ok,” she says.  “It’ll still taste good.  Would’ve been better with beef though.”

Bigby has made a fire out on the balcony, and we all gather out there whilst the Charlies work in the kitchen.  Once the curry is in a pot on the fire, they join us outside as we play dominoes.  Well, attempt to play dominoes.  Lou-Ellen keeps trying to steal our pieces.

Char also bakes naan bread and three loaves of bread, so we have a decent meal for once. 

Bigby once asked me why I eat with them, when I can easily eat much better food at home, and I tell him that I would rather roll with them than my family, especially since my father died, but that is only half the truth.

Once we’ve eaten, Char divides the leftover food between the six of us.  As always, I tell her that she doesn’t have to give me a share, and as always, she hushes me.

“You paid for most of this,” she says.  “It only makes sense that you get a share of it.”

“Johnny Gat,” Charlie says lazily, her feet on the coffee table.

“Yes, Carlotta Santiago,” Johnny says and she scowls.

“Why didn’t you invite your girlfriend over,” she says.  “For that matter, Ver, where’s Bianca?”

“Because I’m hanging with you motherfuckers,” Johnny says.

“Bianca had a family thing,” I say.  I stop myself from saying “again”.

“It’s Saturday, and you assholes are not spending the day with your girlfriends,” Jane says chidingly.  “I’m glad I’m not dating either of you.”

“I am too, because I think I would probably decapitate you within five minutes if we were dating,” Johnny says easily.

“Oh please,” Jane says.  “I’m too much woman for you is all.  Seriously though, when are we meeting the mystery woman?”

“Yeah, come on, Johnny,” Charlie says.  “Given that you were too scared to tell me about her, she must be something.  Invite her over tomorrow.  Your place should still be clean, and we’ll all be here.”

“Well, I have church, but yeah, everyone besides me will be here,” Jane says.

“Y’all being serious right now?” Johnny asks.

“Hell yeah we are, player,” Bigby says.  “Invite her over.  We can play hoopball or something.”

Johnny sighs.  “Alright, I’ll do it,” he says.

 .....

Bigby and Johnny walk Jane back to her family’s place, and I set off back home.  As fun as it is generally to sleep over with the others, Johnny’s flat is much too small and Bartrand and my mother are now home and wouldn’t appreciate a house full of “hoodlums from Gozu District”. 

Bartrand is in the dining room when I get home.  “Hey,” I say, going to sit opposite him.

“Hey,” he replies.

“How was Korlus?” I ask.

“As to be expected,” he replies.  “How was everything here?”

“Fine,” I say.

“Did you manage to make it to the office?” he asks.  Ever since my father’s death earlier this year, Bartrand and I have been dividing the work at the mine between the two of us.  No prizes for guessing who is more excited to do this work

“No, I didn’t really have time,” I lie. 

Bartrand snorts knowingly.  “How are your friends?” he asks, saying the word with distaste.

“They’re fine,” I shrug non-committedly.

“They certainly have big appetites,” he says.  “There is not a scrap of food in the house.”

“I have varren curry and half a loaf of bread,” I say, holding my bag up.

Bartrand wrinkles his nose.  “Thanks, but I think I’ll pass,” he says.

“Fair enough, I was hoping to give this to Bodahn in any case,” I say.  “How’s Mom?”

“Same as always,” Bartrand says.  “Are you going to spend time with Bianca tomorrow?”

“Actually, Johnny was planning on hosting a hoopball competition in his the yard of his block,” I say. 

“I’ll rephrase,” Bartrand says.  “You should spend time with your girlfriend.”

“You are a fabulous matchmaker, Bartrand,” I say.

“Just doing my job, little brother, same as always,” he replies.

“Fine,” I say.  “She can come with.  Far as I know, it’s going to be a big tournament, we can always use more bodies.”

“Not what I meant, Varric,” Bartrand says, as I get up.

“Whatever,” I say.  “Good night, big brother.  See you tomorrow.”

 .....

Bianca agrees to join us for our hoopball championship, with some trepidation.  When I fetch her from her house, she is dressed in a tight skirt and t-shirt, and a pair of high heels.  “I don’t think you’re really appropriately dressed for this,” I remark, kissing her on the cheek.

“Oh, I have no intention of playing,” she says.  “I’m here to be a spectator.”

“You my cheerleader?” I ask.

“If you want me to be,” she smiles.

“Good, because I’m going to suck,” I say fervently.  Hoopball is a rough sport, developed by the krogan and turians, and my friends from the wrong side of the tracks are generally better at playing dirty.

Johnny and Bigby are already in the courtyard outside Johnny’s flat when we get there, along with Tammy, Andrea, Sarah-Lee and Lou-Ellen (Johnny’s younger sisters), and Jarred and Sam, Bigby’s younger brothers, as well as a pretty teenager with dark, bouncing curls, who I assume must be Aisha.

Indeed, Johnny waves me over the moment we arrive.  “This is Aisha,” he says.  “Babe, this is our preppy, rich friend, Ver.”

“Nice to meet you,” Aisha smiles.  “Johnny has told me a lot about you.”

“Yeah, it’s good to finally meet you too,” I say.  “This is my girlfriend, Bianca.”

It’s clear from the offset that both girls take an instant dislike of each other, when they shake hands and give each other overly false smiles.

“Where are the Charlies?” I ask Johnny, who is giving Aisha fond looks.

“Char only woke up like half an hour ago, so she’s showering,” he answers.  “Charlie is once again MIA.  I’m sure she’ll show up though.”

“I thought she spent the night here,” I say.

“We went to Afterlife after you and Jane left,” he explains.  “She found a dude and hooked up.”

“Varric, you wanna get me a coffee?” Bianca whines.

“Sure, sweetie,” I say, forcing a smile.  “I’ll be right back,” I say to Johnny.

“Yeah, whatever,” Johnny says, already turning back to Aisha with puppydog eyes.  I roll my own, and walk down the walkway to the coffee vendor.

“Seriously, why are we here?” Bianca hisses at me.

“They’re my friends,” I say.

“Varric, I don’t fit in here, and, to be perfectly honest, you don’t either,” she says.  “I honestly don’t know what you see in these creeps.”

“Bianca,” I say evenly.  “Just stop.”

“Johnny’s a thug, Bigby’s just scary, Charlie is a slut, Char is…I mean she’s weird, and Jane is way too talkative,” Bianca says, not stopping.  “You are better than all of them, and you have no reason to feel guilty about that.”

“Bianca, seriously,” I say, my voice sharper.  “You need to stop.  You sound like an idiot and you have no idea what you’re talking about.”  I take the coffee from the aggressive-looking quarian and hand it to Bianca.  “Now, you had better behave yourself,” I say.

“I’m not a child, Varric,” she says irritably.

“Really?” I ask.  “Then stop acting like one.”

 .....

Char has come downstairs when we get back, and Charlie joins us a few minutes later.  “Alright, are we ready?” Johnny asks, rubbing his hands together.

As usual, he and Bigby are team captains, and there is a bit of a debate, as our numbers are uneven.

“Bianca should play as well,” Char says.  “That will make us twelve.  We can always be less a runner and have the hitters not making sacks.”

“Have you seen what I’m wearing?” Bianca complains.

“I have an extra pair of trousers and a clean t-shirt you can wear,” Charlie offers.  “You’ll have to go barefoot though.  These are my only shoes.”

Bianca’s expression shows that she would rather be dead than caught wearing anything belonging to Charlie.

“Well what about Lou-Ellen?” Jarred suggests.

We all look at Lou-Ellen, who is giggling whilst tugging at Andrea’s shirt.  “I mean she could be like an idiot savant or something,” Tammy says.

“Well, she’s certainly the idiot,” Johnny says.  “Yo, wait, Ree, you’re knocked up.  Why are you even playing?”

“Because I’m the best hoopball player here?” Andrea answers stoutly.

“And you want to lose the bundle?” Johnny says.  “Sit your fucking ass down, girl.  You can babysit Lou.”

Andrea scowls, but takes Lou-Ellen by the hand and leads her to the edge of the courtyard to join a sulky Bianca.  Lou-Ellen immediately reaches out to touch Bianca’s hair, who moves away, a sour expression on her face.

“Ok, now we’re ten,” Bigby says.  “So, one less runner and hitter, and no movement restrictions?”  There are murmurs of agreement.

There is a second debate about who gets to choose teams first, which is resolved by Char saying loudly, “Holy shit just do fucking rock paper scissors and get this done.”

Johnny wins.  “Alright, who to choose,” he crows.  He examines us all minutely.

“This fucking year, Gat, seriously,” Bigby says.

Johnny rolls his eyes.  “Charlie.”

“Babe, why didn’t you choose me?” Aisha asks.

“Bigby’s a tough motherfucker, Eesh, better you’re squaring off against me,” Johnny says.  “Bigby, your go.”

“Sam.”

“Blacky.”

“Score,” Tammy squeals, joining Johnny’s team.

“Sarah-Lee.”

“Jarred.”

“This is getting embarrassing,” Aisha mumbles.

“You get used to it,” I say.

“Aisha,” Bigby says.

“Fuck,” Johnny exclaims.  He looks between Char and me several times.

“Just fucking do it, asshole,” Char says.  “We all know who you’re going to choose.  I can handle it.”

“Fine,” he says.  “Ver.”

I go and join Johnny’s team, whilst Char goes to Bigby.

“You know, you kind of screwed up sacrificing your girl to Bigby,” I say.

“How so?” Johnny asks.

“Because you’re going to be our hitter, and Bigby will make her a runner, meaning you will have to tackle her at some point,” I say.

Johnny snorts.  “So?” he asks.  “This is hoopball.  I have no issues with punching her if it means winning the game.”

“You’re a real prince, Johnny,” Tammy says.

“Yeah, bite me,” he says.  “Ok, so positions are as follows: Blacky as kicker, Ver as stopper and Jarred and Charlie as runners.  As you all know, subtlety isn’t really my thing.  Make these bitches run home to their mommas and I will call that a victory, even if we don’t win points-wise.”

“Right,” Charlie says.  “Let’s do this.”

Within the first fifteen minutes, we’re seven points down, and it looks like we’re on the way to the quickest loss in the history of hoopball.  Johnny calls for a time-out.

“Yeah, you’d better call a team meeting because you assholes suck,” Bigby crows.

Johnny very politely tells him where to get off before turning to us.  “He’s right,” he says.  “You assholes suck.”

“Says the man who fucked up five tackles in a row,” Charlie snaps.  “Seriously, you have the easiest job.  All you have to do is hit people, and you are sucking at it.”

“I’m used to having another hitter to help me out,” Johnny protests.

“So you can blame your failings on them?” I ask slyly. 

“Shut up,” Johnny says irritably.  “Honestly, I am not the only bad player on the team.  Ver, this is hoopball, not a ballet recital.  Seriously, would it hurt you to at least try and hit the ball with some fucking conviction?  And Blacky?  Mother of God, Blacky.  You are fucking atrocious.  How about aiming before you fucking heft the ball at the hoops like that?  You’re squaring off against Char, how the fuck is she managing to save all your kicks?  You’re supposed to be good at this for Christ sake.  And Jarred, I swear to the almighty if I hear you complaining about Sam tackling you too hard, I will punch you in the face.  As for you...” he turns to Charlie.  “You’re playing ball like a girl.”

“You take that back,” Charlie snaps.

“Make me,” he snaps back.  “Will you please all now take your thumbs out of your assholes and play like you mean to win?”

“How is it that his vocabulary goes up when we’re playing this dumb game?” Tammy mumbles.

“Alright, team, let’s do it,” Johnny finishes his speech with a few punches to the air.

Sadly, Bigby’s team manages to score two points in the next five minutes, and it looks like they are poised for victory, until Jarred and Tammy manage a fantastic two-man combo, bringing our score up by four points.  And so it continues: us never managing to gain the upper hand, but also keeping the goal difference low enough to ensure that there was no victory on their side.

Eventually, after we have been playing for four hours, the score is sitting at thirty one-forty in their favour, and we are all bored.  Johnny tackles Sarah-Lee too early in the circle and she immediately awards herself a penalty.

“Fuck that, that was four seconds,” Johnny snaps.

“It was two, jackass,” Sarah-Lee snaps back.

“Ver, you were right there,” Johnny says.

“I didn’t see, I wasn’t paying attention.”

“That’s probably why we’re fucking losing then, isn’t it?”

“Just give her the penalty, Johnny, you were early,” Charlie says.

“Whose side are you on anyway?”

“Look, I am getting bored and I’m sure I’m not the only one,” Char says.  “Can we wrap this game up please?”

“Not before I take my free throw,” Sarah-Lee says obstinately.

“Fine,” Charlie says.  “Lee takes her throw and then we end this game, ok?  If she scores, the game is over in any case.”

The others agree, and Johnny takes me to one side.  “Listen, Ver, you got to save this, ok?” he says to me.  He has cracked one of the lenses of his glasses, and he has a large scratch down the side of his face.  His eyes are unfocused but intense.  This is the Johnny you don’t want to mess with, the one who will beat the shit out of you without a care in the world.

I respond promptly.  “I’ll save it, Johnny,” I say with an almost insane amount of confidence.

“Really?” Johnny asks.  “Because your defence has been shitty as fuck, man, no offence, and I’m not there to tackle her.”

“I’ve got this,” I say.

He claps me on the shoulder.  “Do this,” he says in all seriousness.  “And you’ll go down as the hero of Gozu.”  He pulls me into a bone-crushing hug.  “I believe in you, man,” he whispers in my ear, his voice husky.

“Can we get on with this already, Jesus,” Bigby groans.

I take my place in front of the hoops, and Sarah-Lee stands at the edge of the circle.  I am aware of Sam to my right, preparing to tackle me.  I stare at Sarah-Lee, who is watching me, her eyes narrow. 

And suddenly I know.  She’s going to feint left and kick to the right hoop, driving me closer to Sam, were I to see through the feint.  I stretch myself to my unimpressive height and bounce on my toes.

Bigby throws the ball into the circle, Sarah-Lee traps it under the ball of her foot, rolls it to the left (my left, her right), and then kicks right.  I dive, ducking under Sam’s tackle, and trap the ball under my belly, before shooting it out of bounds with my right thigh.

Next thing I know, I am dog-piled by Johnny, who lifts me up and shakes me hard enough for me to start seeing double.  “I knew you had it in you, man,” he shouts excitedly.  “My man, Varric Tethras is the greatest hoopball player on this block.”

“Ow, you’re hurting me,” I groan.

“So does that make it a draw?” I hear Charlie ask.

“We had the most points, so fuck no,” Bigby replies.

“You never got to ten either though, which the rules say is a victory,” Jarred says.

“The rules also say you can’t bounce the ball off of the opposition hitter’s face, yet you seemed to be doing an awful lot of that,” Bigby says.  “Victory is ours.  Hand over the cigarettes.”


	3. Charlie or: This better not be like the last time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for discussions of child abuse, neglect and sexual violence, as well as for descriptions of violence.
> 
> Clearly I went for my custom Shepard's appearance and not the default build. I just relate to that one more.

After the game, we all troop up to Johnny’s flat (apart from Ver, who takes his boring piece of shit girlfriend home).  There, a rowdy game of cards breaks out, with the victors of the hoopball game staking their hard-won cigarettes.  At some point, I find myself out on the balcony.  The remnants of last night’s fire are still out there.  Across the way, I see two Collectors digging through trash, and an asari is hanging what looks like a family of six’s laundry out on the balcony of the apartment opposite.

“Hey,” a voice says from behind me.  It’s Aisha.

“Hey,” I say.

“Mind if I join you?” she asks.

“Knock yourself out,” I answer.  “Want one?” I hold out a cigarette to her.

“Well, given that you won that off me, don’t mind if I do,” she says.  I light it for her and hand it over.

At first we sit and smoke in silence.  “Days like these, I’m grateful to be living in Terminus,” she breaks the silence.

“Yeah,” I say.  None of us have been to Citadel (aside from Jane, who was born there), but we all imagine what it must be like.  The clean streets.  The education.  No gangs.  No crime.

“Johnny says you’re a singer,” I say.

“Yeah, I do some singing at the market, and Aria had me sing once at Afterlife, which was pretty cool,” she answers.  “I post a lot of shit on the extranet, hoping that a producer will see it and sign me, but so far that hasn’t happened.”

“Maybe I’ll come by the market to hear you,” I say gruffly.

“Thanks,” she says.  “It would be cool if you did.”  Another pause.  “Hey Charlie, you used to date Johnny, didn’t you?”

“Only for a couple of months,” I answer.  “We didn’t really work as a couple.”

“Do you mind me asking why not?” Aisha asks.

I shrug.  “The person that Johnny loves the most is Johnny, which is fine, most of us don’t get that kind of love at home in any case,” I say.  “The problem is that Johnny doesn’t allow anyone else to love him.  Makes it difficult to be intimate with him, because he will never reciprocate.”

“Makes sense,” Aisha says, nodding seriously.

“Also, he has a temper, and so do I,” I say.  “We both decided that hot sex wasn’t worth ruining our friendship.  You have a crew?”

“Yeah,” she answers.  “There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for them.”

“Then you get it,” I say.  “I would die for mine, and nothing is going to come between that.  Not even hot sex.”

“But you think I should stick it out with him?” she asks.

“Hell yeah that’s not even a question,” I say.  “Johnny is a great guy.  Just…don’t expect too much from him.  He’s an idiot most of the time.  Thinks with his dick a lot.”

“Alright,” she says.  “Thanks.”

“No prob,” I say.  “Hey, you come from Kenzo, right?”

“Yup, born and bred.”

“That’s the Brotherhood, ain’t it?” I ask.  She nods.  The Tudor Brotherhood only ran one district in Omega, but made sure that everyone knew about their tattoos, monster trucks and general meatheadedness. “What’s their tariffs like?” I ask.

“Real steep generally, but I think that goes for everywhere,” she answers.  “Although I guess you don’t really have to worry about that shit, do you?”

“Yo, are you two bitches going to come in and join the party, or must we come out to you?” Johnny calls.

I sigh and stub out my cigarette.  “We’ll come when we’re ready,” I shout.

“Come on, before I am forced to murder your boyfriend,” Bigby calls.

“I guess we’d better go back inside, huh?” Aisha says.

Back in the flat, I see that the younger children have all gone home, and it’s only Bigby, Char and Johnny left.  Aisha immediately crosses to Johnny, sitting down next to him and throwing her legs over his lap.

“Hey, babe, I missed you,” he said, kissing her.

“Urgh seriously,” Char mumbles.  “Get a room, you two.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Johnny says, standing up and scooping Aisha into his arms.  She giggles loudly.

“No,” Bigby says harshly.  “Sit down Johnny.  Seriously, there are children present.”

“Fuck you, asshole,” I snap. 

“Oh, so you’re ok with him going off to fuck his girlfriend in the next room whilst we sit and play cards?” Bigby asks.

“Good point,” I say.

There is a knock on the door, and we all stare at each other with a degree of trepidation.  Generally speaking, people who were welcome in our homes didn’t knock.  Unless of course we were visiting Ver, but then we weren’t usually welcome there.

Johnny sighs, puts Aisha down and opens the front door.  It’s Tomas, who is dressed in the colours of the Blue Suns.  He has a man I don’t recognise with him.  Both have assault rifles in their hands, and the strange man also has a sword on his back.

“Seriously?” Johnny snaps.  “It’s fucking Sunday, you wannabes are visiting me on the Lord’s day?”

“I thought you were Jewish,” Tomas says.

“Shows what you know, fuckhead, there isn’t a god,” Johnny says.

“Are you going to leave us on your doorstep, Gat, or are you going to invite us in?” Tomas asks pleasantly.

“No please, come into my fucking home,” Johnny says.  “What can I get you?  A fucking mimosa?  How about I get one of these fine ladies to give you a lap-dance?”

“Johnny,” Char says reproachfully.

Tomas and the man step over the threshold.  “Ladies, gentleman,” Tomas says, his voice still cheerful.  His eyes fall on Aisha.  “You’re new,” he remarks.  “Decided to join this group of socially disabled retards?”

“Hey Tomas, why don’t you go fuck your rifle?” I say loudly, standing up.

“Charlie,” Johnny says, giving me a warning look.  “So how can we help you, gentlemen?  Cat stuck in the well?  Your friend here need some wood to chop?”

“Keep talking, boy, we’ll see what happens to you,” the stranger speaks for the first time.

“Is that a threat?” Johnny asks, his voice dangerously low.  “In my house?”

“Johnny, cool it,” Bigby says, getting to his feet.  I also get up, to hold Johnny back or join in the fight, whichever comes first.

Bigby addresses Tomas.  “How much does he owe?” he asks. 

“Thirty thousand creds,” Tomas says, his eyes not leaving Johnny’s face. 

“Right,” Bigby says, activating his omnitool and pressing some buttons.

Tomas’ omnitool pings and he glances down at it.  “Gat, you’d better watch yourself,” he says quietly.  “Your friends aren’t always going to be around to save your ass.”

Johnny makes to take a step towards Tomas, and Bigby and I grab his shoulders.  Tomas laughs and turns away.

“Hey Santiago,” Johnny says.  Tomas turns back, and Johnny takes a deep breath and spits in his face.

Tomas smirks and wipes his face.  “You will pay for that, you fuck,” he says amicably.  “Come on, Kai.”

The door closes behind them and Bigby and I release Johnny.  “I fucking hate your brother, Charlie,” he says.

“Not gonna lie, he probably got all your dad’s messed up genes,” Char agrees.

“Yeah, well, not surprising given that I’m pretty sure he was a rape baby,” I say, earning an annoyed noise from Char.

..... 

Char and I decide to sleep at Afterlife that night, to give Aisha and Johnny some ‘alone time’, in spite of the protestations of both Johnny and Bigby. 

“Seriously, Eesh and I can find a dark alley somewhere,” Johnny says.

“She’s so lucky to have you,” Char says, rolling her eyes.

“Or you two can wait outside,” he continues.

“Yeah like a pair of fucking peeping Toms, no thanks Johnny,” I say.  “And don’t you start,” I add to Bigby, who opens his mouth.  “You know there isn’t enough space at your parents’ place.”

“You seriously don’t have to sleep at Afterlife though,” Bigby says.

“It wouldn’t be the first time,” Char says, hefting her backpack onto her back.

“And it probably won’t be the last,” I finish, following suit.  “We’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Not me, I have a twenty four hour,” Char says.

“Right,” I say.  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Seriously, we can’t turn sixteen soon enough,” Char mumbles once we have left the flat. 

Despite there being no laws in Terminus, Aria only gave flats to those of age, and subletting was equally discriminant.  We had tried squatting for a while, until an angry yahg had shot at us.  Since then, we either crashed at Johnny’s or Bigby’s (or Ver’s if his family was out of town), or else we slept at Afterlife.  The positive of this is of course that we can now sleep under any condition.  We only ever go to our fathers’ house when there was no other option, or we need something.

Speaking of which.  Our path is blocked by Tomas, when we are only a few blocks from Afterlife.

Char reaches for her switchblade, and I pull my pistol from the waistband of my jeans.  “What the fuck do you want?” I snap at him.

“You seriously need to chill, Carlotta,” he says.

“What do you want?” I repeat.  I sense the man named Kai looming up behind us, and Char turns to face him, switchblade in hand.

“Dad wants to talk to you,” Tomas says.  “And Zaeed says Charlie needs to come home too.”

“Fuck that,” I say angrily.  “If Vido wants me, he can come get me.”

“Don’t be such a child,” he says.

“Oh that’s rich coming from the boy who hasn’t managed to let go of the apron strings of the man who fucked up both our lives,” I snap.  He steps closer to me and I cock the pistol.  “Don’t,” I warn.

“Please,” he scoffs.  “You’re too much of a pussy to use that thing.”

He steps neatly out of the line of the barrel, grabs the pistol and twists it out of my grasp.

“Now, are you two going to come or not?”

“Again, if Vido wants…”

I am cut short by him punching me in the stomach, grabbing me by the ponytail as I double over and dragging me down the causeway.  I can tell by the amount of swearing and screaming that Char is getting a similar treatment.  I struggle against Tomas, trying to free myself, but, as strong as I am, he is stronger.  As always, people see us, but no one stops to help when they see the Blue Suns uniforms.

Tomas only releases me when we reach the house, although Kao, who has Char over his shoulder, does not let her down.  I am satisfied to see a large cut on his cheek, presumably from Char’s knife.

“Let me the fuck down you fucking cock,” Char screams.  I hope that I am the only one that hears her panic.  This is a place that neither of us wants to be.

“Put her down,” Tomas says.  “She isn’t going to run.”

Kai dumps her on the floor, and Char immediately finds her feet.  “Fuck both of you,” she snarls.

“Now, play nice, Charlie,” Zaeed says from the landing above us.  “I taught you better than this.”

“What the fuck do you want with us?” she snaps.

“Yeah, and if Vido was so keen for me to be here, why doesn’t he come out to greet me?” I say irritably, earning a backhand from Tomas.  “Nice,” I snap at him.  Char takes my hand, and my trembling subsides somewhat.

“Well, I’m disappointed that it seems you can’t come obediently,” Vido says, appearing next to Zaeed.

“You want obedience, get a fucking dog,” I say angrily.  “Or just adopt Zaeed, he fucking adores doing tricks for you.”  Char continues to grip my hand, drawing circles on my skin with her thumb. 

Tomas raises his hand again, and Vido shakes his head at him.  “Well, come on up, Charlies,” he says.

Char’s fingers start tapping a pattern on the back of my hand, and I glance in her direction quickly.  Her eyes narrow imperceptibly. 

“This better not be like the last time,” I tell him coldly.

“Well, as always, dear daughter, that depends on you.”

 .....

We get taken to the strategy room, which is on the fourth floor.  “What are we doing here?” Char asks, sitting down in the chair Zaeed indicates.  He sits next to her, and she subtly shifts position so that she is facing away from him.

“Sit down Carlotta,” Vido says.

“I’m fine standing,” I snap.

“It wasn’t a question,” Vido says.  “I said sit down.”

I remain standing, enjoying the look of infuriation growing on his face, until Char says my name in a low voice.

“Well go on then,” I say to Vido, who seems to be grinding his teeth in frustration.  He flings himself in his chair.  I know I’m pushing my luck, but honestly seeing just how angry I can make my father, whilst he realises that there is absolutely nothing he can do about it is about the only fun thing about these family reunions.

“So, why did you send the demons from the fiery depths of hell after us?” I ask.

“I would hardly call your brother that, it seems disrespectful,” he answers.

“I really couldn’t give less of a shit,” I say dismissively.

“Well, obviously it was for an important reason,” Zaeed says.  “There is a new enemy afoot.”

“So what else is new?” I ask.  “You always have a new enemy afoot.  It’s part of the deal of being a big-time gangster.”

Zaeed gives Vido a significant look, who says, “Charlie, we can also do this with you gagged.  I don’t particularly feel like fighting with you-,”

“And I didn’t particularly feel like seeing you today, or, well, ever, but I guess we all got to make sacrifices,” I say.  “So, who is this big scary new enemy?”

“A turian, who goes by the name of Archangel,” Vido says.

“One man,” I scoff.

“You may laugh, but this Archangel has caused a lot of disruption to our operation,” Zaeed says.  “We had to call off last week’s battle because he was…somewhere with a sniper rifle, throwing stun grenades at our forces and generally fucking things up for us.”

“Well, good for him,” Char says with finality.  “Can we go now?”

Zaeed slams his hand on the table, making both of us jump.  “I think you two are mistaking how bad this is for our empire,” he shouts.

“No, you two are mistaking how little we give a shit about our stupid-ass empire,” I say irritably.  “Seriously, why should or would Char and I care about this?  This is clearly your problem.”

“It becomes your problem when you consider the fact that Archangel might try to hurt us through our daughters,” Vido says with finality.

“Well clearly he would be mistaken, given the amount of love we have received at your hands,” Char says coldly.  “Can we go now?”  She makes to stand up. 

“Sit down,” Zaeed hisses at her.

Char rolls her eyes, but slams herself back in her seat.

“You two had better get to the punch line soon,” I say.  “I’m already bored.”

“We could protect you,” Vido begins.

“Let me guess, if we join the Suns,” I say.  “It’s not going to happen.  Remember, you offered already.  We weren’t interested then.  We’re still not interested now. Right Char?”

Char however doesn’t answer.  Instead, there is an oddly vacant expression on her face, like when she is doing her homework for Alex and struggling with a particularly challenging problem.

“I said right Char?” I say loudly, and she shakes herself.

“I-uh, yeah,” she says unconvincingly.

“We could really use someone with your specific skills,” VIdo says, clearly seeing an advantage he could press.  “You are the more talented one after all, and you have heart.  We need heart.”

“Stop talking to her,” I snap. 

“Char, you always deserved better than what you get at that madman’s clinic,” Vido says soothingly.  “We can give you everything you want.”

“I said, stop talking to her,” I shout, launching myself out of my chair and at his face.

This has the desired effect, in that attention leaves Char, and lands squarely on me, but so do his fists.  And then, when I end up on the floor, so do his feet.

Char is not strong like I am, or even Jane, who is very fit despite her obvious height and health issues, but she is capable of heavy lifting from her time at the clinic.  No one expects her to be able to fight (given that she is both the softest-looking and the smartest of us), and has a very long fuse.

Which is why we all freeze in surprise when there is a sound of knuckles hitting flesh that doesn’t originate from Vido and I.  He turns towards her, rubbing his cheek.

“Stop it,” Char says, her voice so low we have to strain to hear it.  “Right now.”

He stares at her in surprise.  “Bitch, what the fuck-,”

“My name is Charlie,” she says, her voice still low.  “It isn’t bitch.  It’s Charlie.  I was given the same name as the girl you are beating on.  And I am not a child any more.  I’ll be damned if I watch whilst you beat another woman to death, Vido.”

Vido laughs and straightens.  “No,” I mumble, getting to my knees, but another backhand has me flat on my back.

Char stands her ground as Vido walks towards her, but I see fear in her eyes as they flicker to me and then to her father.  “Go ahead,” she whispers.  “I’m not scared of you.”  The tremor in her voice is a clear giveaway however.

“Uh Dad?” Tomas’ voice sounds from the door.  “Those idiots from their crew has showed up.”

Sure enough, from my vantage point on the floor, I see Bigby and Johnny standing behind him.

“What the fuck,” I hear Johnny exclaim, and he makes towards Vido.  Bigby stops him.

“Not now,” he whispers.  “We need to get the girls out of here.”  He turns to Vido.  “Mr Santiago, a message came to my flat that Char is needed at the clinic.  I heard that she was here, so I came to give it to her myself.”

The story is feeble and I can tell that Bigby knows it.  Char has her omnitool strapped to her wrist, of course they wouldn’t send a message for her to Bigby.

It seems that the interruption has disturbed Vido’s momentum however.  “Fine,” he snaps.  “Take this filth,” he aims a kick at my ribs and I let out an involuntary whimper, “with you.”

Johnny glares daggers at him, before bending and picking me up.  I try, but I am unable to do anything more dignified than loll my head against his shoulder, getting blood on his T-shirt.

Bigby grabs Char by the hand.  “Come on,” he says.

“Yeah, fuck you both,” I crow thickly through my mouthful of blood.  “I hope the vigilante kills you and destroys your shitty empire.”

“Jesus Charlie, would it kill you to shut up?” Bigby mumbles, but I can tell he is smiling.

.....

Once we have left the house, it becomes clear that my bravado is, well, bravado, when I puke all over Johnny’s T-shirt.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” he complains, but doesn’t put me down or break stride.

“We need to get her somewhere where I can examine her,” Char says.

“Afterlife,” Johnny says.  “It’s closer than my place at any rate.”

I feel him pick up the pace, which honestly doesn’t help my seasickness at all, and he murmurs something to me.  I think it’s something like hold on.  I try not to groan.

“Thanks for coming,” I hear Char say to Bigby.

“Thanks for sending me the message,” he answers.  “Sorry we couldn’t get there sooner.”

We enter Afterlife, and my senses are assaulted with the smells of spilt alcohol and fried food, and the sounds of loud dance music.

“The bathroom,” I hear Char shout.

Johnny appears to be pushing people out of the way as he practically sprints to the bathroom.  The door slams loudly behind us, only to be opened again almost immediately as Johnny sets me down on the floor against the bathroom wall.

“What the fuck happened?” It’s Jane.  Her father must have brought her to work again.

“Vido,” Bigby says grimly.  Char kneels in front of me.  Jane swears.

“Is she ok?” she asks.

“I’m sure she is,” Char murmurs, raising her finger in front of my eyes.  “You know the drill, Charlie.”

“I’m fine,” I mumble as I try to get my eyes focused on the finger.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” she says, smiling slightly.  “Where’s the pain?”

“I’m fine,” I repeat.

“Bitch, don’t make me repeat myself when I’m mad at you,” she says.  “Where’s the pain?”

“My head and my ribs,” I say.

“Which side?” she asks, her hands moving down my torso.

“Right,” I say.

She lifts my shirt, and the boys gasp.  I look down.  There is a massive bruise along my ribs.  “Oh hey, that’s pretty badass,” I say, hissing as Char presses her hand firmly along the bruise.

“Nothing seems broken,” she declares.  “Probably just cracked, if that.  You’re going to need to take it easy for a couple of days.”

“I was thinking of taking a nap when you’re done,” I groan.

“Nuh uh,” Char says, rocking back on her heels.  “You have concussion.  You’re going to need to stay awake.”

“Fucking kill me now,” I groan.

“But she’s ok?” Johnny asks anxiously.

“Stop being such a baby, Gat,” I say irritably.

“Cute, Charlie, but seriously,” Bigby says.

“Yeah, no lasting damage,” Char replies.  “We should probably get her to a less noisy place.”

“Let’s get to mine,” Johnny says.

“But your girlfriend,” I say.

“Man, she’ll be fucking fine,” Johnny says dismissively.  “I’ve already shown her the settings on my showerhead.”

..... 

Back at Johnny’s flat, I get dumped onto the couch.  “Why the fuck were you two at the Blue Suns place in any case?” Bigby asks, sitting on the floor whilst Char sits next to me, a bowl of water and a cloth in her hand, and Johnny goes to change his top (clearly Aisha has already given the night up for a lost cause, because she doesn’t seem to be at the flat).  Jane squeezes in on my other side.

“It’s not like we intentionally went there,” Char says, insulted.  She starts cleaning the blood off of my face.

“Ok, so why were you there?” Johnny asks, coming back into the room.

“Tomas basically kidnapped us and took us there,” Char says.

“I swear, I will kill that little bastard if he comes creeping around here again,” I say as viscously as I can manage through my swollen lips.

“Right,” Bigby says.  “So how did it become the brawl that we witnessed?”

“Bigby, it’s Charlie,” Char says in a pained voice.

“So?”

“So she probably shot her mouth off one too many times, causing him to attack her,” Jane says.  “Honestly, I can relate.”

“Yeah of course you do, but Charlie has the added advantage of being built like a tank,” Johnny says.  “Unlike you.  She could easily take her father.”

“I was trying to keep attention off Ms Pipsqueak over here,” I say, nudging Char and groaning.

Bigby frowns.  “I think you two need to explain,” he says.

..... 

“So what do we know about this vigilante?” Bigby asks.  It is two hours later and we are still dissecting what had happened at the house.

“I’ve heard my dad talk some about him,” Jane says.  “Apparently he’s giving the Bloodpack, the Blue Suns and the Eclipse grief.  Disrupting shipments, shooting up raids, causing havoc in battles.”

“He clearly has high aspirations,” Johnny remarks.

“Yeah, the thing is though, he’s kind of an idiot,” Jane says.  “A cut of the gangs’ income goes to Aria, and if she’s not getting paid, she’s getting mad.”

“And no one fucks with Aria, yeah we know,” Bigby says, quoting the only law on Omega.  “So do you think she’ll make a move on him?”

“Not yet,” Jane says.  “I think she’s kind of amused by this to be honest.  She’s probably going to see how this plays out for a bit first.  And honestly, she gets enough from the mines and the offworld gang activity to not be fucking too much with her empire.”

“I want to join,” Char says in a low voice.

All four of us turn to stare at her.  If there is one person in our crew (besides fucking Ver) who hates violence, it’s Char.

“Hear me out,” she says.  “My dad has already offered me a spot in the Suns, so it won’t be suspicious if I decide to join, because, I don’t know, I’m sick of the shitty fucking pay I get at the clinic, or the working hours suck or whatever.  And if I join the Suns-,”

“You can pass information on to Archangel,” Jane finishes.

There’s a stunned silence.  “Are you insane?” Bigby chokes out.  “You will get killed.”

“My father won’t kill me,” Char says, supremely confident.

“Yeah, but mine would, were he to find out,” I say.  “Char, you can’t be serious.  This is a shit idea.”

“Why?” she asks, quietly obstinate.

“Because it’s too dangerous,” I say.

“I work in an unguarded clinic where the majority of the people I treat are gangsters who were almost killed by other gangsters,” she says.  “I have been homeless for more than half my life.  I can handle danger.”

“Yeah, but, well, you’re Char,” Jane says.

“Very eloquent, Jane, thanks,” I say.

“I’m not joking here,” Jane retorts.  “Listen, Char, you’re the beating heart of the group.  You’re our moral compass.  You joining a gang, well, that’s insane.”

“Johnny’s being awful quiet, and it has me worried,” Bigby remarks.

“Because I think it’s a good idea,” Johnny says.

“That’s not concerning,” Jane mutters sarcastically.

“No one would expect Char to be a double agent, because like Jane says, she’s the softy,” he says.  “No offence.”  Char shrugs.  “Meanwhile, she would be in the prime position to take those fucking bastards down, once and for all.”

“Johnny, you thinking this is a good idea makes it seem like an even worse idea,” I say.

“Listen, those motherfuckers have it coming to them,” Johnny says.  “Hell, I’d do it if they would let me join, but with all that business with my old man, that won’t happen.”

“So I’m doing it,” Char says.  “Jane, find out how I can contact this Archangel.”

“But-,” Jane begins.

“I don’t want to hear it,” Char says tiredly.  “You should be getting home before your dad sends Aria’s Guard by again.”

“Yup,” she sighs, getting up.  “I’ll see you all tomorrow.”

“I’ll walk you home,” Bigby says, also getting to his feet.  “I take it the Charlies are staying here tonight?”

“As if I’d let them out of my sight,” Johnny says.  “Char can take the bed.  I’ll stay up with Charlie.”

“Alright,” Bigby says.  “See you all tomorrow then.”

He throws Char another concerned look before following Jane out the door.  Char stretches and yawns.  “I should probably hit the sack,” she says.  “I have to be at work in six hours.  Charlie, you ok, or have you somehow overcome your aversion to painkillers?”

“I’ll be fine,” I say, waving a hand at her.  “Go to bed.  I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah,” she says.  “You going to be ok, Johnny?”

“Go to bed Char, sheesh.”

She hovers uncertainly at the door a few seconds longer before going through to the bedroom.

Johnny comes and sits next to me.  “You need new glasses,” I remark.

“Yeah that fucking tackle on Bigby,” he says.  “Asshole has sharp fucking elbows.”  He watches me a bit.  “You ok?” he asks.

“Yeah, I-,” I realise I’m trembling.  The high from the fight is finally wearing off.  “Honestly, I’m fine,” I say, as he gathers me into his arms.

“Sure you are,” he says gruffly.  “I’m just warming you up is all.”

“You’re breaking my ribs is what you’re doing, asshole,” I whisper without conviction.

“You’ll be fine,” he says.

“And you smell like puke,” I reply.

“Yeah, wonder whose fault that is.”

The truth is, even though I grew up with Char, I’m probably closest with Johnny.  Char witnessed a lot of shit as a child, but the worst crime her dad ever committed was not knowing how to take care of a kid, and putting a hit out on her mom.  Ver and Bigby both come from fairly normal families, although from what I understand, Ver’s mom is not the most stable individual.  Jane’s family is, well, unique, although her dad’s insanity stems more from having unrealistic expectations than actually wanting to physically harm her.

Johnny though.  He knows what it’s like fearing for your life day in and day out, until you reach a size and an age where being angry is always better than being scared.

Eventually, I stop trembling.  “You ok?” he asks.

“I’m always ok,” I say.  “You wanna play cards?”

“Bitch,” he says, reaching for the ever-present deck of cards.  “I wager my skycar.”

“I wager my kidney,” I reply.

..... 

Later, when the power is cut, he helps me to the balcony and lights a cigarette for me.  “I thought you were going to trade these,” I say.

“Your need is greater than mine,” he answers.  “So what did you think of Aisha?”

“Yeah, she seems real nice,” I say.  “And she isn’t one of those pretty bitches who think they know what’s what.”

“Unlike Bianca you mean,” he answers.

“Yeah,” I answer.  “Jeez what does Ver see in her?”

“What does she see in Ver you mean,” Johnny says.

“Come on, Ver’s not that bad,” I say.

“Yeah, but Bianca is mega-watt hot, and Ver’s, well, Ver.”

I shrug irritably.  I’m not qualified to say what makes Bianca hot (I can guess it can be found on her chest and butt though), but I do know a lot of girls around here would choose a nice guy over an asshole any day of the week.

“But Aisha,” Johnny presses.

“Yeah, like I said, she seems cool,” I say.  “You really like her, don’t you?”

Johnny shrugs.  “She’s ok,” he says nonchalantly.

“You’re such a liar Johnny Gat, you’re totally pussy whipped,” I say, grinning.

“Shut up you,” he says irritably.

“Johnny and Aisha sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G,” I chant.

“Just cos you’ve had one hiding today doesn’t mean you can’t have two,” he snaps.

I roll my eyes.  “How did you two meet anyways?” I ask.

“I saw her singing in the Kenzo plaza one day when I was doing salvage,” he says.  “I decided to woo her the old-fashioned, Johnny Gat way.”

“Hate to break it to, you but annoying a bitch until she says yes isn’t the start of a healthy relationship,” I say.

“Well it worked twice, didn’t it?” he says.

“I wouldn’t say we was a healthy relationship, Johnny,” I say.  “Yo, be straight with me though.  Why didn’t you want to tell me about her?”

He shrugged.  “I don’t know,” he says.  “I guess because out of everyone, yours is the opinion that matters the most.  If you didn’t like her, I would have had to break up with her, and I didn’t want to do that.”

I snort.  “God, you’re such a fucking sap,” I say. 

“No I’m not,” he says.

“Yeah you are,” I say.  I stub out my cigarette.  “Help me back inside,” I say.

..... 

By Friday, I am well enough to join Johnny and Bigby on their salvaging.  After this, we go back to Johnny’s flat, for Ver and Jane to help us with reading.  Bigby bemoans the fact that he hasn’t gotten any work at all during the week.

“You’re sixteen in two weeks,” Johnny says.  “You’ll have more work than you’ll know how to handle.”

“And you’ll be able to get your own place,” I add.

“Yeah, thank Christ,” Bigby says.  “It’ll help my ma out if I can get my own place.  Our flat is overcrowded as it is.”

“Hey, will you three please focus?” Jane snaps. 

“You reckon you’ll keep on at the Tethras mine, or will you move to one of Aria’s?” I ask.

“Dunno, both are kind of shit options to be honest.”

“Yo assholes,” Jane says.  “Pay attention.  This shit is important.”

“I don’t give a fuck about Concordia or whatever the fuck this is called,” Johnny says dismissively.

“Well you should, yours is atrocious,” Jane retorts. 

“Not my fault,” Johnny says.  “I’m Korean.”

“You don’t even speak Korean,” Ver says.  “Besides, your dad was white.”

“So?” Johnny says.  “It should still stand in my favour, shouldn’t it?”

“I’m half Chinese and I understand concord, you idiot,” Jane says.

“Now you’re getting verbally abusive and I won’t stand for it,” Johnny says, folding his arms.  “Also, Char still needs to make me new specs.  It’s very hard to see out of these.”

Jane rolls her eyes.  “The boy blank the ball,” she says.  “Kicks or kick.”

“Kick,” I say.

“Kicks,” Bigby says at the same time.

“Blanks,” Johnny shrugs.  “That’s correct convex, ain’t it?”

“Isn’t and concord, but yes, grammatically it’s sound,” Ver says.  “Bigby was right though.  Let’s try some written exercises.”

“I fucking hate you, Bigby,” I mumble.

“Why me?” he hisses.

“Because this were your stupid idea,” I say.  “Ooh let’s learn to read.  Then these stolen omnitools can be used by us instead of sold for decent creds.  But then we can communicate with each other.”

“Was,” he whispers.

“What?” I ask.

“This was your stupid idea, not this were your stupid idea.”

“Ok, now I really fucking hate you,” I snap.

“Work alone, Bigby and Charlie,” Jane says.

“I don’t recall you complaining about the stolen omnitools last week when Char was able to send a message to us, and we were able to save you from being beaten to death,” Bigby whispers once she has turned away.

“He wouldn’t have beaten me to death,” I say.  “I am not weak.”

“Yeah, and no doubt you were waiting for the right moment to begin fighting back,” Bigby says, sneering slightly.

“Bitch, how about you say that to my fucking face,” I snarl, getting to my feet.

“Do you two mind, I’m trying to understand collateral damage,” Johnny complains.

“Concord,” Ver corrects.

“Is it really though?” Johnny asks.

“Many speakers of the English language would say it is,” Ver says.

I breathe deeply and then sit down again.  I am so pissed with Bigby that I get all the answers wrong, Jane tells me to study up on concord over the weekend, as well as assigning us another Kathy and Mark book for us to read.

“I wonder what terribly exciting misadventures these two will get up to this week,” Bigby says, flinging the book across the room.  “Will they play in the park?  Or will Kathy drop her ice cream?  See Kathy cry.”

“Finish this book, and you lot can graduate to the Famous Five,” Jane says.  “It’s about four kids and a dog.”

“Urgh seriously, who gives a shit about that?” I ask.

“No one, but it’s good practice, and the author wrote old-school English, which can only help your hopelessly limited vocabularies,” Jane says.

“My dad used to read me books about a gangster cat,” Johnny says.

“See, that’s the sort of shit I can get behind,” Bigby says.  “Not these dumbass repressed Citadel kids.  No one cares if there isn’t a swing at the park.  Either get over it, or push the asshat kid who took your swing off and take it for yourself.”

“Actually, these books came out well before the war,” Jane says. 

“That somehow makes it even dumber,” I say.

“Yeah, well, given that I had to read them in school in the Alliance and Ver read them as part of his education, they are pretty important,” Jane says.  “Come on, let’s take a break.”

We use the break time to sort the day’s salvage into categories for where we can sell them.  “Do you all think Char was serious when she said that she wants to join the vigilante crew?” Jane asks.

“Unfortunately, Char is always serious,” I say.  I had tried to talk her out of the plan, but she always told me that she didn’t want to hear it.  “Why do you ask?”

“Because I’ve found out how to contact him,” Jane says.  “And I want to be sure that this is a good idea before I set up the meeting.”

“You have to do it,” Bigby says, but I can tell from his expression that he doesn’t like the idea at all.  “Char is going to go through with this, with or without our approval, so we might as well make sure she’s safe.”

“I really don’t like it,” I say.

“Me neither,” Bigby says.  “But the Suns have done something pretty major to piss her off.  I mean something worse than usual.”

“Y’all got any plans for the weekend?” Jane asks.

“It’s you all, Jane, not y’all,” Johnny says primly.

“Shut up you wise-ass, I know how to speak English.”

“Same as usual,” I say.  “Shop for food, play cards, salvage.  That reminds me, I still need to go and get wine.”

“Yeah, you should probably get on that,” Bigby says idly.  “Does Kenn take hard drives these days?”

“Kreg pays more for them,” Johnny says.  “You got plans, Jane?”

“Well, I guess shop for food, play cards and salvage tomorrow, and then mass on Sunday,” Jane says.

“You know that God is fake, right?” Johnny says.

“That’s your opinion, you agnostic fuck, but I happen to believe that the amount of times that I’ve been pulled from the brink of death indicates a higher power watching over me,” Jane says delicately, laying out a half-full oil tank.

“Agnostic?”

“I got you a dictionary for a reason, look it up.”

Johnny’s omnitool beeps.  “Yo,” he says.  “What’s up Char?  Alright, we’ll be right over.” He hangs up.  “Char wants us to come to the clinic.  Seems serious, she sounds pretty rattled.”

“Alright, I guess we’ll finish the classes later this afternoon then,” Jane sighs.

“Or maybe we won’t,” I mutter.

“Did she say what it was about?” Bigby asks as we leave the flat.

“No, only that it was important that we come now,” Johnny answers.

There seems to have been more fighting on the streets, and there are people out cleaning blood and other things up.  “Brown,” Bigby says, looking at a patch of blood.  “Bloodpack making a move for it again?”

“Maybe,” Jane says.  “I guess we’ll hear soon enough.”

The clinic is packed when we get there.  We edge our way to the asari receptionist.  “Right, I’ll let Charlie know you’re here,” she says when we announce ourselves.

There aren’t any seats available in the waiting room, so we stand against the wall.  A harried-looking assistant tries to triage us.  Johnny waves him away with a “Do we look like we’re fucking injured?”

I wonder why Char contacted Johnny if we all needed to be here.  Generally we went to Bigby for those sorts of things, if not because he was more likely to answer his omnitool.

After what feels like eternity, Char comes out into the waiting room.  Her face is pale and she looks exhausted.

“Hey guys,” she says.

“You look like shit,” Jane remarks.  Char frowns.

“Whatever,” she says.  “Come on through.”

We exchange worried glances a we follow Jane to one of the examination rooms.  Another assistant is busy cleaning the floor with a blood-stained mop.

“Thank Daniel, but I need the room for a bit,” Char says to him. 

He nods and exits through the curtain, back in the direction of the waiting room.  “What’s happening?” Bigby asks.

“The Bloodpack decided that today might be a good day to invade Gozu, so of course the Suns retaliated,” Char says, looking exhausted.  “Why don’t you guys take a seat?”

“Are you ok?” Ver asks, as he, Jane and I crowd onto the examination table.  Bigby sits in the seat behind the desk.

“No, uh, Johnny, sit at the desk,” Char says.  “Bigby can stand.”

“Char, what’s going on?” Johnny asks, and Char’s face crumples.

“I’m sorry,” she whispers.

“Just say it,” Johnny says.  His entire body is tense, and his hands are balled into fists.  Bigby very surreptitiously gets up and edges towards him.

“She was brought in approximately four hours ago,” Char says in a rush.  There are tears in her eyes.  “I was on the wards with Dorian, and we took her into the theatre.  She kept crashing…I worked her for hours, but she had lost too much blood.  I’m so sorry Johnny.”

Johnny’s next words crash into the room.  “Who?” he asks.

Char swallows. “Lou-Ellen,” she says softly.  The tears spill down her cheeks.

Johnny runs from the room.  Bigby starts after him.

“Leave him,” I say sharply.  I turn to Char.  “Are you ok?” I ask.

She shrugs, wiping the tears from her cheeks.  “Still twelve hours to go on my shift, so yeah I’m ok,” she says.

“Is there anything we can do?” Bigby asks.

“Find me a new profession?” she asks hopelessly.  “Otherwise, no.”  She laughs.  “I’ll be fine guys.  Seriously, go home.  Johnny’s going to need you when he gets back.”

Jane hugs Char.  “Chin up,” she says.  “We’re here if you need us.”

..... 

Unsurprisingly, Johnny is not home when we get to his flat.  “What do we do?” Ver asks.

“We wait,” I say flatly.

Which is what we do.  We try a half-hearted game of cards, but our hearts are clearly not in it.  Bigby goes out at six to fetch us nutrient paste and, even though he doesn’t say it, to look for Johnny.  I give him a questioning look when he returns two hours later, and he shakes his head.

At ten, Ver says, “Shouldn’t you be getting home, Jane?”

“My dad can fuck himself, this is more important,” she replies.

“Ok, just so you know, you’re going to be in the shit for this,” he says.

She sighs.  “So what else is new?” she asks rhetorically.

We fall asleep in the living room, Jane and Ver stretched on the couch and me and Bigby leaned against the wall.  Char is clearly being kept on at the clinic, because she does not come back.

At around three in the morning, I wake up with a crick in my neck from leaning awkwardly against Bigby’s shoulder.  Johnny still hasn’t come back and I start to feel slightly concerned.  Surely he hasn’t done something too stupid.

I get up and go out onto the balcony.  Someone has been screwing with the heat because it’s freezing out.  Probably a strategy to keep people off the streets.  I gaze across to the opposite block.  A group of krogan have lit up a fire on their balcony and are talking rowdily in their language.  I feel myself zone out.

A beep from my omnitool brings me sharply back down to earth.  “Johnny?” I ask.

“Shit, who is this?” he slurs into my ear.

“Charlie,” I say.

“Fuck,” he groans.  “I was trying to call Eesh.”

“Where are you?” I ask.

“Somewhere in Kenzo,” he says.  “Fuck, I think I’m lost.  I was drinking with the Brotherhood.”

“Can you describe where you are?” I ask.

“I don’t know man, it’s fucking Omega, it all looks the same,” he says.  “I can’t see, I lost my glasses.”

I swear internally.  “Ok, stay where you are,” I say.

“Wait, Charlie.”

“Yeah?”

“I found the Kenzo shuttle stop, should I wait there?”

I calculate the route.  It would take me at least an hour to get to him, barring anyone trying to give me shit.

“Yeah, I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

“Ok,” he says.  “Yo, Charlie.  Don’t tell Char.  She’ll just get mad.”

“Don’t worry man, I won’t,” I say, having no idea what he’s talking about.

“And Eesh,” he adds.  “She’s so good.  She won’t like it.”

“Ok, don’t worry about it Johnny,” I say.  “I’ll see you soon.”

I go quietly to his bedroom to fetch his jacket, before leaving the flat without telling anyone where I am going.

...... 

It seems that Aria’s strategy of dropping the temperature of the space station is working, as I encounter no one else as I walk to Kenzo.  Fortunately, Johnny hasn’t moved from the shuttle station, and he looks blearily up at me as I crouch down next to him.

“Hey Charlie,” he says.

“Hey Johnny,” I say.  I ignore the mess that is his fists and the bruises on his face.  “How did you lose your glasses?”

“Don’t know,” he sighs.  “Char is gonna be so fucking pissed though.”

“She’ll get over it,” I say.  I hold out his jacket.  “Here, let’s get this on you.”

I help him pull the jacket on before sitting down next to him against the wall of the shuttle station.

“Got a smoke?” he asks me.

“Sure,” I say, lighting my last one up for him, and handing it over.

For a while, we are quiet.  Johnny’s trembling ceases gradually.

“Those motherfuckers killed her, didn’t they?” he whispers after a while.

“Yeah,” I say.

“I’m going to make them pay, Charlie, I swear to fucking God.”

“No,” I say, turning to him.  “We are.”


	4. Johnny or: my sister died and I haven’t yet gotten rid of all my rage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for implied domestic violence/child abuse and neglect.

I make the appointment to have my glasses fixed on a day that I know Char is going to be in the clinic.  She visibly flinches when she sees my face.

“Come on, it’s not that bad,” I joke.

She sighs.  “Take a seat,” she invites.  “You have payment, I trust?”

“And if I don’t?” I ask.

“I can’t see you,” she says.  “You know the rules.”

“But I’m your best friend,” I protest.

“Right, and I’m a Cobweb,” she says.  “I can’t make exceptions, even for my friends.”

I sigh, and hand over two cigarettes.  She nods and makes a note on her datapad.  “That wasn’t too hard, was it?” she asked.

“Jesus H, Char,” I complain.

She ignores this.  “What can I do for you?” she asks.

“I lost my glasses,” I say.  “And now I keep walking into walls.”

“Shall we do your obligatory eye test whilst you’re here?” she asks.  “The one that you’ve skipped three years in a row.”

“Sure, whatever,” I shrug.

She has me stand against the wall and read letters off of a board on the opposite wall and then describe pictures that I look at through thick lenses.

“So how’ve you been?” she asks, making notes on her datapad.

“Just fine,” I say nonchalantly.

“I haven’t seen you in a while,” she says.  “I think I’m at your place more often than you are at the moment.”

“Yeah, I’ve been busy,” I say.

She gives me a sharp look, her eyes shrewd.  “I suppose that’s one word for it,” she says.

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” I snap, getting angry.

“It means I don’t think getting wasted and into fights counts as busy,” she answers, making another note on her datapad.

With that I’m on my feet, towering over her.  She doesn’t flinch.  “Sit down, Johnny,” she says, enunciating each word like a bullet.

“Why don’t you fucking make me?” I snap.

She closes her eyes briefly and breathes out through her nose.  “I’m not going to ask you again,” she says.  “Sit down or you won’t be getting these glasses.”

I glare at her a few seconds before sitting down again.  “You need to listen to me very carefully,” she says sitting opposite me.  “And not react.  For once in your life, just listen.  Lou-Ellen is dead.”  I open my mouth furiously, and she holds up her hand.  “She is dead Johnny, and it sucks and I wish it wasn’t like that, but it is, and you going out picking fights with members of the Blue Suns is only going to get you killed, which helps absolutely no one and is definitely not going to bring her back.”

“What do you know?” I snap.

“Nothing,” she says.  “Absolutely nothing.  But I do know that we can’t lose you, Johnny.”

“You don’t need me,” I say stubbornly.

“My God, listen,” she says, getting impatient.  “I know you like to think of yourself as this lone, wounded wolf, but you aren’t.  And I’ll be damned if I let you go down like that.  You’re worth far more than that.”

“Listen Char, it’s adorable that you have such a girl crush on me, but seriously, get fucking over it,” I snap.

She looks at me, her expression calculating.  “Fine,” she says.  “You want to take revenge for what happened to your sister?  I’m going to meet Archangel tomorrow.  Come with me.”

I stare at her.  “What’s your angle here?” I ask.

“No angle,” she says.  “If you’re going to get yourself killed, you might as well do it doing something worthwhile.  But there is a condition though.”

“Of course there is,” I groan.  “You sure you aren’t a fucking volus?”

“Come home,” she says, ignoring me.  “Aisha has been contacting me daily because she doesn’t hear from you, Charlie and Jane are at each other’s throats and Bigby is even more sullen than usual.  We need you.  And you need us.”

“What makes you think I need you fucking dicks?” I ask.

“Because you were a massive mess when I first met you, and you have gotten a lot better since hanging with us,” Char says.  “I’m going to write you a script for arnica.  Some of those bruises look nasty.  Your glasses will be ready in a week.”

..... 

And so I return home that evening for the first time in almost three weeks.  “Jesus, you smell rank,” Jane says when I walk in.

“You’re not a fucking picnic to sniff either, Jane but do you hear me complaining about it?” I snap.  “Why is my flat so clean?”

“We’ve been squatting here to make sure it doesn’t get taken by someone else,” Charlie says. 

Bigby claps me on the shoulder.  “Good to have you back man,” he says.

“Yeah yeah, you all missed me, fucking adorable,” I say.  I flop down on the couch between Jane and Charlie.  Jane very pointedly moves to the kitchen counter.  “What did I miss?” I ask.

“Nothing exciting,” Charlie says, exchanging a glance with Bigby.

“I find that hard to believe,” I say.

“Seriously,” Bigby says.

Jane tuts loudly.  “He isn’t an idiot you guys, and he’s going to feel like shit once he figures out what you’re talking about,” she says irritably.

Charlie gives Jane a terrible look.  “Listen pipsqueak, you are about to outlive your fucking welcome here,” she snaps.

“Ok, now I’m really confused,” I say.  “Ver.  What the fuck are they talking about?”  Ver gives Charlie a terrified look.  “Now Ver, who are you more scared of, Charlie or me?” I ask quietly.  He gulps visibly.  “Don’t forget, my sister died and I haven’t yet gotten rid of all my rage surrounding the incident.”

“Oh God,” he murmurs.

“Oh for fucks sakes just tell him,” Charlie says.

“Uh, Bigby got a flat,” Ver says squeakily.

Shit.  Bigby’s sixteenth birthday was last week.  Some fucking best friend I am.

“Congratulations, man,” I say, making to get up from the couch.  The look Bigby gives me makes me change my mind.  “And, uh, many happy returns.  Mozel tov and all.”

“Thanks,” Bigby says neutrally. 

“So where’s the flat?” I ask.

“In Tima,” he answers.  “I’m moving in tomorrow, provided there aren’t any squatters.”

“That’s great, congratulations,” I say sincerely.  “Moving on up.  Have you started working?”

“Yeah, I’m sticking with Tethras,” he says.  “It’s with my dad, and my mom generally feels we can trust a human-run mine.”

“Of course it does mean that dickless here is your boss,” Charlie says, indicating Ver with her chin.

“Will you stop?” Jane snaps.

“No one asked you, midget.”

The door of the flat opens and Char walks in.  She smiles when she sees me.

“Hey,” she says, sitting down on my other side.

“Yo,” I say.

“Good day?” Bigby asks her.

She shrugs.  “Fairly decent,” she says.  “Saw some cool patients.  You?”

“I drilled a meteor for ten hours,” he says.  “I can’t complain.  You’re still off tomorrow, right?"

“Yup,” she answers.

“Well, given that the prodigal son has decided to return,” He glares at me, “shall we do something at my place?”

“In the evening, sure,” she answers.  “Johnny and I are going to meet Archangel in the morning.”

The atmosphere in the room changes.  “What?” Ver asks.

“You and Johnny?” Charlie asks.  “I thought Johnny couldn’t join the Suns.”

“I can’t, but it doesn’t mean I can’t join the vigilante crew though, does it?”

Bigby groans.  “Guess I’m coming with then,” he sighs.

“You don’t have to,” I say at once.

“Who else is going to keep an eye on you two?” he asks.

“You’re not my father, Bigby,” Char groans.

“No, but you have the habit of tackling krogan who get too violent in the clinic and Johnny…god, don’t even get me fucking started,” Bigby says.  “Someone needs to keep you two from killing yourselves over wounded pride or selfless nobility.”

“Those are some mighty big words there,” Jane says, impressed.

“I guess the Famous Five is rubbing off on me.”

“There’s a disturbing image,” Jane says.

“I’m coming too,” Charlie says.  “Vido thinks he can get away with this shit.  He has another think coming.”

There is a silence as we all study each other, before Jane sighs and stretches.  “I should probably get going,” she says, getting to her feet.  “I’m already on thin ice at home.”

“Wait,” I say.  “Fetch the shard wine.”

Jane studies me for a moment, frowning.  “Alright,” she says quietly, going over to the cupboard and fetching the wine.  Ver fetches the glasses.

I pour everyone a small measure.  “To Lou-Ellen Gat,” I say, raising my glass.

There is a small pause, then Char says, “Lou-Ellen Gat.”

“Lou-Ellen Gat,” everyone echoes.

.....

We get up far earlier than I normally would to meet Archangel.  Char makes us wash and put on clean clothes, much to Charlie and my disgust.

“We’re going to offer to kill mercenaries for him, not to ask him on a fucking date,” Charlie complains.

“I don’t care,” Char says, a threatening look in her eyes.  “We will look presentable.”

“Where did Jane say we can find this dude anyway?” I ask as we leave the flat.

“Kima District,” Char answers.  “I’ve got the address.”

Kima District is on the other side of Omega to where my flat is, and it takes us quite a while to walk there.

“So, how big is your new place then?” I ask Bigby as we walk.

“No bedrooms, but a fair sized living room,” he says.  “Bathroom, tiny kitchen.”

“No bedroom huh?” I ask.  “That’s going to make dinner parties tough.”

He snorts.  “At least we won’t continuously be mooching in your place though,” he says.

“Yeah, thank fucking Christ for that,” I say.  “Instead we can all annoy you and everyone can complain about how fucking messy your place is.”

“I’m counting on it,” he says.

“Tima is also Bloodpack huh?” Charlie asks.

“Last I knew, but you know how turf changes on the daily,” Bigby says.  “I mean, Johno’s place went from Bloodpack, Suns and back again this month.”

“Oh, the Bloodpack have taken Zeta back, have they?” I ask.

“Jeez, where were you the past couple of weeks?” Bigby complains.

“All over by the smell of him,” Char says.

“Great Char, thanks so fucking much,” I say irritably.

“Are you ok without your glasses?” she asks.

“Yeah, long as they don’t ask me to shoot anything that’s less than three feet away, I’ll be fine,” I say dismissively.  “By the way, Bigby.”

“Yo,” he answers.

“Call me Johnno again, and I swear to the almighty I’ll rip your fucking tongue out.”

..... 

Archangel’s base seems to be an entire apartment block in Kima District.  It is so unassuming that we walk past it twice.

“Shit, I guess it must be this place,” Char says at last, her eyes on her omnitool.

“Why the fuck are we even relying on you for directions, Jesus Christ,” Charlie complains.

“Because Jane gave me the map,” Char answers.

At the front door, a batarian is standing.  Char gives us a nervous look, and I shove her forward.

She puts on a wide smile usually reserved for difficult patients (I’ve seen it a fair amount of times myself).  “Hi,” she says.  The batarian takes a drag of his cigarette and doesn’t answer.  “We’re looking for Archangel,” she says in a nervous rush.

The batarian takes another drag on his cigarette, and at first I think he is going to ignore her again.  “Who says Archangel is here?” he asks.

“We have a friend whose father works for Aria,” Char says.

“Again, who says he’s here?”

“Ok for the love of Christ,” I say, getting annoyed.  “We’re not here to cause shit for Archangel, we want to join his crew.”

“Johnny,” Char complains.

“Seriously, this jackass is acting like we’re fucking criminals.”

“Yeah, but you can’t…look, we’re not here to cause trouble, like he said,” Char turns back to the batarian.  “We want to help.”

The batarian sighs and throws his cigarette end in our direction.  “Come in,” he says.

The moment we step through the door, we are surrounded by a group of armed people of different species.  A quarian steps up to us and runs her omnitool along us.

“They’re clean,” she proclaims.

“Holy shit it’s a little beetle girl,” I say.

She seems to glare at me.  “I need your omnitools,” she says.

“You’re kidding, right?” Charlie says.

“You’ll get them back,” the quarian answers.  She holds her hand out.

Bigby sighs and unbuckles his omnitool.  “I still need to move today,” he tells us.  “So maybe take your hands off of your dicks and start cooperating.”

The rest of us follow suit.  “Come on,” the batarian says, and leads the way past the guards.

He takes us to the top floor of the block and into the third door on the left.  In it are a turian and an asari maiden, who look up from the terminal on the desk when we walk in.

“Archangel, these humans came looking for you,” the batarian says.  “They say that Aria told them where to come.”

“No, Aria told our friend’s father, who told our friend, who told us,” Char corrects.

Archangel’s mandibles flicker.  “And what do they want?” he asks.

“They say they want to join our crew,” the batarian says.

Archangel’s eyes flit over us and there is another mandible flicker.  “They don’t look like much,” he remarks.

“They’re humans, what do you expect?” the batarian says.

“Woah, hold the fucking phone,” Charlie says.

“Oh I would be quiet if I were you,” Archangel says.  “Why don’t you take a seat?” he indicates the five chairs in front of the desk.

We all sit down mutely.  “My name is Garrus Vakarian,” he says.

“Yo, I thought his name was Archangel,” I hiss to Char, who is seated next to me.

She sighs loudly.  “It’s clearly an alias, dummy,” she replies quietly.  “Turians don’t have angels.”

Archangel, or Garrus or whatever the fuck his name is clears his throat loudly.  “Are you two about done?” he asks.

“Sorry,” Char says meekly.

“How did you find out about where to find me?” he asks.

“Well, like I told the batarian, I have a friend whose father works for Aria,” Char explains.  “She’s kind of good at eavesdropping, and she was able to figure out the approximate area of where your base is, given what she heard.  Using that with some genius hacking stuff that I don’t understand, she got us an exact location.”

“Are you surprised that Aria knows where we are?” the asari asks.  “She works with the Shadow Broker.  I don’t think there’s much she doesn’t know.”

Garrus shrugs and turns back to us.  “What are your names?” he asks.

“I’m Bigby, she’s Char, that’s Charlie and this is Johnny,” Bigby asks.

“And you all come from…?”

“Gozu District,” Bigby answers again.

“Right,” Garrus says.  “And so Bigby, Char, Charlie and Johnny from Gozu District, what are you doing here?”

“We want to volunteer,” Bigby says.

“Interesting,” Garrus says.  “And what exactly can you offer me that I don’t already have?”

“Her father is Zaeed Massani and hers is Vido Santiago,” Bigby says. 

Garrus leans forward, the asari narrows her eyes and the batarian makes an interested noise.

“Are either of you members of the Blue Suns?” the asari asks. 

“I am,” Char says.

“Your name again?” the asari asks, picking up a datapad.

“Uh, Charlie Massani, but I doubt you’ll find much there,” Char says.  “I was born here and the only network I exist on is the local one to chat with my friends via omnitool.”

The asari shrugs and types something into the datapad.  “Why the wish to join the group taking out the gangs if there’s such an obvious connection?” Garrus asks.

“Because my father thinks he is God and that he can get away with treating people awfully with no repercussions,” Char says. 

“You’re an idealist,” Garrus says.

“Maybe,” Char says.  “My friends certainly think so.  I’m a Cobweb, I see what the violence does, how many lives are lost or destroyed.  It has to end.”

“Many would argue that the Terminus Systems need the gangs, that it can’t survive without them,” Garrus says.

“We’ve never tried any other way, so how would they know?” Char responds.  “You must believe there is hope.”

“What makes you say that?” he asks.

“You’re here, aren’t you?” Char answers.  “You’re from Citadel Space, and you’re not profiting off of this, based on what my friend worked out.”

“What makes you say I’m from Citadel Space?” he asks.

“Your accent, and the fact that you said the Terminus Systems,” she says.  “No one here calls it that.  We say Terminus.”

“Of course,” he says.  “Liara, add vernacular lessons to my todo list.”

“Already there,” the asari murmurs.

“And what about you three?” Garrus asks.  “Another was born into the gang life as I understand it.”

“Yeah, me,” Charlie says.  “My dad is an a-grade dick who deserves to be taken down a peg or too.”

“So you’re in it for revenge,” Garrus says.

“Best motive there is, baby.”

Garrus makes no comment, but looks at me.  “The Suns killed my dad and my sister,” I explain.

“Intentionally?” he asks.

“My dad, yeah, there was a hit against him because he refused to pay protection money,” I say.  “My sister was caught in the crossfires between a brawl between the Eclipse and the Suns from what I understand.”

“I’m sorry for your loss,” Garrus says.  I nod once.

“I’m just here to stop these idiots from being killed,” Bigby says.  “And I would like to be able to imagine living on Omega in the actual freedom Terminus promises us, with no gangs restricting us and without having to worry about dying or someone you care about dying.”

It’s hard to tell with turians, but I think Garrus is smiling.

“Very well,” he says.  “We won’t turn help away.  But do know that if you betray us, you will die.  And that is a promise.”

“Fair enough,” I say.  I like it when things are black and white. 

“Then we meet up here tomorrow evening,” he says.  “Six o’clock.  Don’t be late.”

..... 

After telling Bigby I would meet him at his parents’ place to help with the move, I go to Kenzo in search of Aisha.  I find her singing in the plaza, a crowd of listeners gathered around her avidly.  The first time I ever spoke to her, about three or four months back, I told her that if there was a God, he probably liked listening to her sing.  Not gonna lie, I was trying desperately to get into her panties at the time, but it had some truth in it.  Aisha is a powerhouse of a singer, and she writes her own music and lyrics and stuff.  She is too good for Omega, and will earn it if a Citadel producer signs her.

She finishes her song, scans the crowd as they applaud her raporiously, and catches sight of me. 

“That will be all, ladies and gents,” she says, a murderous look on her face.

She jumps off of the platform she had been standing on and started towards me.  “Well, Johnny, what a pleasant fucking surprise,” she snaps and punches me hard in the shoulder.

I shove her.  “Have you gone fucking insane?” I say, grabbing her and pulling her towards an alleyway.

“What the fuck is your problem?” I snap as she pulls herself free.

“What the fuck is my problem?” she exclaims.  “Where the fuck have you been?”

“What are you talking about?”

“You go missing for three whole weeks without a word and stroll back in like it’s just another fucking Tuesday.”

“It’s Wednesday,” I say.

“You don’t get to be smart with me right now,” she shouts, punching my arm again.

I catch her fist.  “I usually try to be fucking even-tempered, but you’re beginning to piss me off, Eesh,” I say.  “What the fuck is your deal?”

“My deal is that your sister dies, which I know is terrible, given that she was your favourite sister and all, but then you vanish for three weeks without a word to anyone.”

“So?” I ask.  “It’s not as if you’re my mom.  Why do you care?”

“I care, you asshole, because we’ve been dating for six months, and partners at this stage generally begin to trust each other,” she shouts in frustration.

“Wait, six months?” I ask.  “It’s seriously been that long?”

“Urgh, forget it, what’s the use,” she groans, turning and walking away.

I grab her shoulder and spin her back to me.  “Yo, wait a second, you don’t get to walk away from me,” I say.  “We’re busy having a serious discussion.”

“Johnny, it’s clear you don’t care, so why even waste my breath?”

“Look, I’m sorry, ok?” I say quietly.  “I didn’t mean to string you along.”

“That’s not the point, and if you used your brain for once, you would know this,” she says.

I sigh.  “I can’t read your mind, woman, perhaps you should just tell me,” I say.

“Johnny, the point is that we’ve been together for six months and you’re still treating this like a casual fling,” she says.

Women, I sigh internally.  “Ok,” I say.  “I’ll make it up to you.  Have you had breakfast?”

“Why?” she asks suspiciously.

“Because if you haven’t I’ll buy you breakfast, dumbass,” I say.  “Come on.”

..... 

After we eat the breakfast that I “purchased”, I take her back to Bigby’s parents’ place.  His dad is at work, but his mother is home, as are Jarred, Sam and Andrea.

Aunt Sarah immediately gets to her feet and gives me a tight hug.  When she steps back, her eyes are bright with tears.  “It’s good to see you again, my boy,” she says.  “I knew you would come back to us at some point.”

“You know I always do, Aunt Sarah,” I say.  My eyes travel over my sister.  “Yo, Ree, what happened to your face?”

Andrea scowls.  “Big Dan,” she says.  “He’s been even more awful since…you know.  I’ve been hanging out at Aunt Sarah’s for a bit.”

“How’s he been with Mom?” I ask.

Andrea pulls a face.  “You know,” she says.  Yes.  I do know.

Aunt Sarah clears her throat, her eyes on Aisha.  “Oh yeah,” I say.  “Auntie, this is my girlfriend Aisha.  Eesh, this is my Aunt Sarah.  She’s been like a mom to me since I was a rag-tag lil brat.”

“You will always be a rag-tag little brat, Benjamin,” Aunt Sarah says, and I scowl at the use of my birth name.  “Have you two eaten?”

“Yeah, we had breakfast a few minutes ago,” I say.  “Is Bigby and the others still here?”

“They’re in the bedroom,” Aunt Sarah says.  “Are you sure you don’t want anything to eat?  You’re looking very thin.  And where are your glasses?”

“Chill, Aunt Sarah, I actually ate food for breakfast,” I say.  “Not nutrient paste.  Real food with saturated fats and everything.  And I lost my glasses, but Char is making me new ones.”

Bigby comes out of the bedroom at this point.  “Are you assholes going to come help me or are you going to socialise the whole day?” he asks.

“Language,” Aunt Sarah reprimands him.

“Jesus Christ, Ma.”

“Bigby,” Aunt Sarah snaps.

Bigby sigh.  “Sorry,” he says.  “Are you ladies and gents going to assist me in the packing of my worldly possessions or are you going to engage in conversation with my darling mother.”

“Now don’t you get smart with me,” Aunt Sarah says. 

Bigby pulls a face behind his mother and motions for us to come into the bedroom.  Char, Charlie and Ver are already crowded into it, and with Andrea, Aisha and me inside, the room is slightly more than cramped.

“Where’s Jane?” I ask.

“Training,” Char answers.  “Hey Aisha.”

“What’s up, Aisha,” Charlie says.

“So what do you need us to do?” Andrea asks.

“Get my clothes from the closet,” Bigby says, brandishing a rubbish bag with a grim expression.  “If we want to do this, we need to get a fucking move on.”

It barely takes us half an hour to pack Bigby’s “worldly possessions”, which we fit into two garbage bags.

“And now?” I ask.

“Now we move to Tima,” Bigby says.  He takes one bag, and I take the other.

Aunt Sarah is busy cooking something on the stove when we go back into the main room, but she drops her spoon when we emerge.

“Ah my sweet boy,” she exclaims, swooping onto Bigby and embracing him.

“Seriously Mom, don’t make a big deal,” he mumbles, his neck going red.

“You’re leaving the nest,” she says, backing away and kissing him on each cheek.  “The first of my children to leave.”

“More of a testament to Becca and Damian’s laziness,” Bigby says.

“I shall miss you so much,” she continues, ignoring him.

“Mom, I’m not going far.”

“You are welcome home at any time,” Aunt Sarah continues.  “There will always be a place for you to sleep and a warm meal.”

“Mom, ok, listen,” Bigby says.  “I’m seriously not going to be far, but you could all do with the extra food and sleeping space.  And I’ll visit loads, and I’m sure this bastard will too.”  He nudges me.

“Oh yeah, Aunt Sarah,” I say.  “I’m like the clap.  Once you have me, you can’t get rid of me.”

Aunt Sarah kisses Bigby again.  “I’m so proud of you,” she says.  “I love you, my big boy.”

“Love you too, Ma,” Bigby says.  “Come on you lot.”

..... 

Bigby’s block looks remarkably similar to mine, although his flat is on the second floor, and looks onto the street rather than the courtyard.  A foul smell greets us when we push the door open.

“Mother of God,” Charlie groans, wrinkling her nose.

The flat is a mess.  It is unfurnished, the windows have all been broken, and the floor is liberally strewn with trash. 

“Fuck,” Bigby groans.

“Bad luck, cuz,” I say cheerily.

“Well, there’s nothing for it,” Char says.  “Let’s clean.”

..... 

We finish cleaning about six hours later.  Whilst still unfurnished and missing major fittings, the flat is at least clean.  And smelling of vinegar and baking powder.  The Charlies leave to get us all nutrient paste, whilst Bigby dumps out his clothes into a corner of the living room.  “Guess we’re going to need to find you a bed,” I remark.  “And a closet.”

“Yup this place needs some work,” he replies.

“And a sink,” I continue.  “And some light fitting.  And windows.  And part of that wall is missing, where they ripped the wires out.”

“Ok, Johnny, I get it, it’s a piece of shit.”

“Damn fucking straight it’s a piece of shit,” I say.  “Guess that means that casa Gat is still the party hangout.”

Bigby levels an amused look at me.  “You going to miss us?” he asks.

“Fuck no,” I say.  “I like my space.  Y’all were getting in my fucking way.”

“That’s the spirit, big boy,” Bigby says.

“You’re the big boy, not me,” I say.

Jane arrives.  “Hey,” she says.  “Well, this place is shit.”

“Sorry if it doesn’t meet your high Citadel standards,” Bigby says irritably. 

“Never mind that,” Ver says.  “How was your day?”

“Same as usual,” Jane says.  “Training, training and more training.  I have a new gymnastics routine though.  I’d show you guys, but there isn’t really any space in here.”

“Stop hating my flat,” Bigby snaps.

Jane doesn’t seem bothered.  In fact, she says, “Why don’t you have any light fittings?”

“I presume they were stolen,” Bigby replies.

“How are you going to see?” she asks.

“With my omnitool.”

“Your stolen omnitool you mean?”

“This better not be about to shit on me from some moral high ground, Jane because I will ban you from my flat.”

“Ooh, big threat.”

Fortunately, the Charlies arrive back with the nutrient paste tubes and beer.  “Where did you get this?” Ver asks.

“Fell off the back of a truck,” Charlie says.  “Don’t worry it won’t be missed.”

She hands out a can to each of us, whilst Char distributes the nutrient paste.  “Not for you,” she says, taking the beer can out of Andrea’s hands. 

“Are you fucking kidding?” Andrea asks.  “The kid’s likely to be born dead in any case.”

“Not on my watch,” Char responds.

“Jane, you sure you can drink stolen beer?” Bigby asks.

“Yeah, ok, you’ve made your point,” Jane snaps.

“To Bigby’s new flat,” Charlie says, raising her beer can.

“To Bigby’s new flat,” we all echo.  I slip Andrea my beer can whilst Char’s back is turn, and she takes a huge chug before handing it back to me.

..... 

We fall asleep on the floor of the flat (well, apart from Jane, who has to return home).  I wake up late the day to the sound of Andrea and Aisha talking.  I stretch and sit up.  Immediately, Aisha comes over and gives me a kiss.

“The best way to wake up,” I remark.

“Did you sleep well?” she asked.

“With a pretty lady like you by my side?” I ask.  “Absolutely not, this carpet is very mouldy.  What are you two fine girls talking about?”

“Pregnancy,” Andrea says.

“Dear God Ree, if you’ve been putting thoughts into Aisha’s head, I may have to stop your allowance,” I say.

“I don’t get a fucking allowance, you ass,” Andrea answers.  “Got any cigarettes?”

“You cleaned me out last night, you fucking vorcha,” I say.  “You can’t have smoked them all already.  Your baby is going to have five feet and two heads at this rate.”

“How does it feel knowing you’re going to be an uncle in two months?” Aisha asks me.

“Not my problem, I’m not the one who got knocked up by a stranger,” I answer.

“Nice, asshole,” Andrea snaps.

“Where’s everyone else?” I ask, realising we’re alone in the flat.

“Bigby and Char are at work, and Ver and Charlie have gone salvaging,” Andrea says.

“Right, well, would one of you lovely ladies be so kind as to get me some fucking water?” I ask.

Andrea gives me a look.  “Get your own fucking water,” she says.

“I would, but I don’t want your tender innocent eyes to see my fucking morning boner, Ree, get me some goddamn water,” I say.

Aisha gets up and moves to the kitchen.  “This is the last bottle, one of us will have to swing by your place to get more,” she says, returning.

I drink the water, and then get up to go for a piss.  “Uh, Johnny, there isn’t a toilet, remember?” Andrea says.

“Why the fuck did we decide to sleep in this shit heap again?” I groan.

“Just use the wall outside like the rest of us,” Andrea chides.

“I should probably get going,” Aisha says regretfully.  “My parents are probably wondering where I’m at.”

“Don’t you want me to walk you home?” I ask.

“That’s ok, I sent my brother a message,” she says.  “I’m meeting him on the corner.”

“Ok,” I say.  I kiss her.  “I’ll maybe look for you later, ok?”

“Sure,” Aisha says.  “See you, Ree.”

“Yeah, see you.”

Once Aisha has left, I go down to the yard and stand against the wall.  Dick in one hand, I light up a cigarette in the other.

“I thought you said you didn’t have any cigarettes left,” a voice says behind me, and I literally wet myself.

“Jesus Christ Almighty, Andrea Gat, what the fuck is wrong with you,” I exclaim.

“You lied to me,” she says, indicating the cigarette.

“Yeah, learn to live with fucking disappointment,” I say.  “Now please fuck off so that I can finish pissing.”

“Have you been to see Mom?” she asks.

I snort.  “No,” I say.

“You should,” she says.

“Why the fuck should I see the woman whose only claim to me was that I came out of her glory hole?” I snap.

“Because she lost her daughter, you ass, and you’re her only son and Dan is being more of a fucking cunt than normal,” she says angrily.

“She chose to be with him,” I say dismissively.  “You reap what you fucking sow.”

“You think she chose this?” Andrea snaps.  “We lost everything after Dad died.  She was eighteen, with two kids and another on the way, and she had no one and nothing.  She went to Dan because he had money and a house.  Because she wanted to protect us.”

“And proceeded to have five kids with him, whilst he beat you, Blacky and me into a pulp every night, yeah, she sacrificed so fucking much for us,” I say angrily.  “Now she opens her legs to anyone who gives her red sand.  Meanwhile, Dan makes sure that Lee, Haley, Payton, Lou and Tess get enough to eat, whilst you and Blacky live off of nutrient paste.  I can see how much she’s sacrificed for us.  Remind me to buy her a fucking halo for Hanukah.”

“You know what, fuck you, fucking cunt,” Andrea snaps.

“Yeah, that’s right, fuck me, I’m the fucking cunt in this story,” I snap back.  “Why the fuck are you even preaching to me, Andrea?”

“You know what, Johnny?  Fucking forget it,” she shouts.  “You go on believing you’re the fucking wounded party here.  Her daughter died, but I guess you’re too busy hating the world to understand what that must be like.”  She turns to leave, then turns back.  “And by the way, six inches is really generous,” she tells me.

I laugh.  “Oh wow, is that the best you can do?” I ask.  “I guess being knocked up with a stranger’s baby must be melting your tiny, barely-pubescent brain.”

“Fuck you asshole,” she snaps, and storms off.

I sigh and turn back to the wall.  With some regret, I realise that my cigarette has gone out.

..... 

That evening, the Charlies, Bigby and I make our way to Archangel’s base.  We are greeted at the door by the same quarian as earlier.

“You’re early,” she remarks.

“You sound surprised,” Charlie responds.

She shrugs.  “The other humans working for us are generally not punctual,” she says.  “I’m Tali.  Tali’Zorah nar Raya.  I’m here on my pilgrimage.”

“Your what?” Char asks.

“It’s a rite of passage for all quarians,” Tali explains.  “We have to leave the Fleet to find something that will prove to our captains that we are not a burden.”

“So what are you taking back?” Bigby asks.

“I’m not sure yet,” she replies.  “I’m hoping I’ll find something worthwhile whilst I’m working for Garrus.  Come on.”

She leads us upstairs to the room Garrus had saw us in yesterday.  A number of people from different species are gathered there, including turians, batarians, krogan and vorcha.  A few more humans join us before Garrus and Liara come in.

“Thank you everyone for coming tonight,” Garrus says, and the low murmur in the room stops.  “We have four new recruits that joined our ranks yesterday, Carlotta Santiago, Charlie Massani,” there are murmurs of discontent at their surnames, “Johnny Gat and Bigby Wolf.  They will be joining in on active missions, but before we get to that, I want to congratulate Kasumi on her team’s excellent work at infiltrating the Eclipse Sand shipment this morning and expropriating it.  Liara is making arrangements to have the shipment distributed.”  A hooded woman gives an ironic wave.

“You what?” Char asks.  Garrus turns to stare at her, and her face goes redder than her hair.  However, she stands her ground.  “What do you mean you’re distributing the red sand?” she asks.

“We sell half of the shipment to the other groups on the space station: the Blue Suns, the Bloodpack, the Talons and the Brotherhood, and use whatever we get there, we use to buy decent food, clothing and other stuff that gets distributed to the residents here,” Liara explains.  “The rest of the shipment we keep at one of our other bases, for people to use safely if they need to.”

“You give shit out for free?” Charlie wants to know.

“We do,” Liara says.

“Why haven’t we heard of this?” I ask.

“Because we only have control of this district, and it’s a very tenuous control at the moment,” Garrus says.  “We can’t risk encroaching on the other districts yet, we aren’t strong enough.”

“Bet the Blue Suns want you gone,” Bigby remarks.

“They do,” Garrus says.  “Which is why you have all shown up.  And why we are going to redouble our efforts to drive them from this space station once and for all.  Sidonis, what progress have you made?”

Another turian speaks up.  “Well, as you know, we’ve been able to disrupt some of their lessor operations,” he says.  “It’s barely a ripple though.  It’s going to take a lot to bring them down.”

“Having Santiago and Massani’s daughters is a coup though,” a batarian says and there are murmurs of agreement.

“Agreed,” Garrus says.  “Charlie says that she is an uninitiated member of the Blue Suns-,”

“Wait, when did that happen?” I whisper to Bigby.

“You were gone for three weeks, dude,” Bigby whispers back.

“-pass on information about operations and raids to Sidonis,” Garrus is still speaking.  “Johnny, you’ll be working with his squad.”

“Uh, ok,” I say.  I remember a word that I have heard Jane use.  “Roger that.”

There are titters from everyone in the room.  Even Garrus manages to look halfway amused.

“There have been a few unusual murders in this district, something that indicates a serial killer,” he continues.  “The latest victim is a human girl named Faith from Copper Row.  Snow, you and Bigby can work that together.”

“You got it,” a super hot woman near us says.

“For the rest, everyone work standard operations,” Garrus says.  “There’s chatter of Bloodpack movement on Gozu territory.  Be ready to mobilise at any time.  Now that we have someone in the Cobwebs, we may also be able to secure aid for them if they need it.  Meanwhile, Carlotta and I will be meeting with the Brotherhood.  They have said something about a partnership, so we need to meet them to iron out the logistics.”

There are murmurs of discontent.  “Is this a joke, Garrus?” the woman named Kasumi says loudly.

“Not at all,” Garrus says.  “The Brotherhood are the smallest gang and have the smallest territory.  They will obviously benefit from us taking the other gangs out of the picture, and, if they become too bold, they may try to interfere with our operations.  If they’re in our pocket, or think we’re in theirs, they’ll behave themselves.”

“And when we have managed to take the other gangs out?” a krogan ask.

“Well, then we hope that they’re willing to absorb into our group, or else we hope that they’ve learnt a morality lesson from our time together,” Garrus says.  “We’ll be meeting with them in a few days.  I still need to iron out the logistics, Carlotta you’ll help with that.  Now, there are boxes of nutrient paste in the basement that need to be handed out.  Ten of you need to get onto that.  Bigby, Johnny, meet with your new team leaders.  We’ll meet again before the weekend.  Have a good one, stay safe and keep others safe.  You know why we’re here.”

I move over to the turian named Sidonis.  “They say your name is Johnny Gat?” he asks.

“That’s right,” I say.  “Sidonis, right?  Good to meet you, man.”

We shake hands.  “Are you ready to destroy the Blue Suns?” he asks.

“Hell yeah, they killed my dad,” I say.

“My condolences,” he says.

“I was four at the time, I’ve mostly dealt with it,” I say.  “So what’s the plan?”

“Well, we use whatever information your friend gives us to cripple them,” Sidonis says.  “Round here there are only two rules: destroy the gangs and make sure that people who aren’t members don’t get hurt in the process.  They didn’t ask for the gangs, and they’re just doing what they can to survive.”

“Fair enough,” I say.  “I can live with that.”

“Then I look forward to working with you, Johnny Gat.”

..... 

The next day, I go to my mother’s house for the first time in what feels like years.  The girls are playing outside in the yard with some of the other kids from the block, and, after hugging and kissing them, I pick little Payton-Grace up and head upstairs.  She gurgles and coos at me as I climb the stairs.

“Yeah, we’re going to visit Momma,” I croon at her.  “And look how chubby your legs are.  Your daddy sure knows how to feed you, doesn’t he?  It’s just us damn Goldenburg kids that he can’t be bothered to give food to.”

The flat is in its usual state, and Mom is sitting on the sofa, watching her stories.  She doesn’t look around until I sit down next to her, and, when she sees it’s me, she starts crying.

I put Payton down and gather Mom in my arms.  “She’s dead,” she sobs.

“Yeah, I know,” I say tiredly.

“It’s my fault.”

“Well, it was some Suns fucker who shot her.”

“I’m so sorry, Benjy.  I fucked up again.”

“Ma, seriously,” I say.  “Stop it.”  I wipe the tears from her eyes.  “You didn’t do this.  It wasn’t your fault.”

This time.

The unspoken word hangs between the two of us.  I notice the fresh bruises, how thin she is and how yellow her skin has become.

“Ma, why do you let him do this to you?” I ask tiredly. 

“What else am I supposed to do, Benjy?” she asks, her voice even more tired. 

“Literally anything else,” I say.  “I’ve watched him use you as a punching bag for twelve years.  He doesn’t deserve your loyalty.”

She cups my face in her hand.  I pretend not to notice how her hand trembles.  That she’s missing another tooth.

“You know it’s not that easy,” she says quietly. 

“Come stay with me,” I say in a moment of irrationality.  “Yeah, you can bring the girls.  My flat is not that much smaller than this shit heap.  You can easily fit in there.”

“I can’t do that to you,” Mom says.

“I don’t mind,” I say obstinately.

“You will,” she says.  “With time.”  She sighs.  “It’s like the sand, Benjy.  At first you think, well, I feel like shit afterwards, but the good feeling makes up for it.  So you keep taking more and more, until you feel shit all the time, and it doesn’t matter because this is your life now and you can’t imagine it any other way.”

“Ma,” I say quietly.

“Where are your glasses?” she asks.

“I broke them,” I say.

“You did?” she asks.

“I was fighting a krogan at the time,” I say.  “I won…like the first five seconds of that fight.  Afterwards, it was pretty one-sided.”

The door opens behind me, and I see her tense up as she sees what I can only assume is Dan behind me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snaps.

I get up, pick Payton up and hand her to Mom, before turning to face him.  Big Dan, we used to call him when we were little.  He is still built like a fucking mountain.

“Don’t worry,” I say quietly.  “I was just leaving.”

He blocks the door.  “I asked you a question,” he says.

I look him in the eye (I have to crane my neck).  “Dan,” I say, trying to keep my voice level.  “Not today.”

I duck under his arm and head towards the door.  “Yeah, keep walking, you fucking pussy,” he calls after me.

Ignore him, ignore him, ignore him, I chant to myself as I almost run down the stairs.  Payton is in the room, you don’t want to fight him in front of her.

“Yeah that’s what I thought,” he shouts.  “Same little boy who used to wet the bed.”

“You know what?” I say aloud.  “Fuck this.”

And I turn and charge back up the stairs.


	5. Bigby or: you don’t get off Omega alive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so sorry about leaving you guys hanging at the end of the previous chapter. Life has been intense for me, what with mental health shit and training for my summer job. To make up for it, I have written an extra-long chapter (is this a reward or not is the question?). My uploading may be somewhat sporadic for the next couple of months. I have managed to over-burden myself somewhat, and things will probably only really calm down after the summer holiday. So I can't promise weekly uploads like I have in the past. I will try my best though, and hopefully that will be enough. I certainly don't want to abandon this fic.
> 
> Finally: trigger warning for description of child molestation

Way back when I was a little boy, my father used to tell me and my brothers and sister stories about a princess whose step-mom was jealous of the fact that the princess was more beautiful than she was, so she put her in a coma, which she would only wake from if a prince gave her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.  That story stuck with me, partly because it was the only story my father knew, and he told it to us every night, until Becca turned nine and declared she was too old for fairy tales.

That’s why, when I meet the woman who I will be working with for Archangel, I say somewhat stupidly, “Your name is Snow White?”

She rolls her eyes.  This is not wholly unexpected, as she has the look of one of the rich bitches from Tumi District.  “My parents had a really sick sense of humour,” she says.  “I have a brother named Barry, another named Edgar, who they nicknamed Egg, and a sister named Missy.”

“Eh?” I ask.

“From the board game,” she says.  “Anyway, you’re Bigby, right?”

“Yeah, although my real name is Brian.”  I immediately kick myself.  Why would I tell her that?

“Right, well then Brian-,”

“I prefer Bigby,” I say.

I can see her getting impatient with me.  “Fine, Bigby,” she says.  “You know that’s kind of ridiculous, right?”

“So’s Brian,” I say.

“Yeah, but Bigby Wolf sounds like-,”

“Hey Snow, you want to hand nutrient paste out on the east side with me?” she is interrupted by the asari girl.  Liara.  “Oh I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise you were busy,” she notices me and blushes.

“That’s alright, I’m almost done,” Snow says.  She turns back to me.  “You can read, right?”

“Yeah,” I say.  “Sure.”

“You don’t sound convinced.”

“I can read, ok?” I say.  I neglect to say that I am busy struggling through Five Go Adventuring Again, the dictionary open next to me.

“Excellent,” Snow says.  She hands me a datapad.  “All the information on the case is on this.  Familiarise yourself with it.  We’re going to the clinic tomorrow to take a look at the remains.  You work in the Tethras Mines, right?”

“How did you know that?” I ask.

“Garrus had Liara look into all your histories yesterday after you left,” she says.  “I personally wouldn’t give those jumped up little rich fucks the time of day, but that’s your prerogative.  Shall we meet at the clinic at four thirty?”

“Uh sure,” I say uncertainly.

“Great, see you tomorrow,” she says.  “Have a good one.”  She turns away from me and follows Liara out of the room.

Char approaches.  “You about ready to go?” she asks.

“I think so,” I say. 

“Good,” she says.  “We’re just waiting for Charlie to finish up with Garrus.”

“My handler’s name is Snow White,” I say as we wait.

“Like the fairy tale?” she asks, bemused.

“Exactly like the fairy tale,” I answer.  “Apparently the parents had a sense of humour.”

“I can relate,” Char says with feeling. 

“So what’s on the cards for you?” I ask her.

“I need to get tagged tonight,” she says, a sour look on her face.  “I tried to get out of it, but my father says that I need to show my commitment.”

“That’s super dangerous though,” I say.  People who are tagged tend to get shot on sight on Omega (and probably in the rest of Terminus too).

“Yeah,” she says.  “Fortunately I have a few high necked shirts.  I should be able to get away with it.  All for a good cause, right?”

“Right,” I say.

..... 

I was pretty innocent as a child.  I knew that life was hard out there, because the gangs were continuously fighting for territory, and my parents often went without food to make sure that my siblings and I had, but my parents loved each other and us, and both of them worked.  It wasn’t until I was older and understood why my cousins were always covered in bruises and flinched at raised voices that I began to understand.

One day, when I was twelve, a message came from the clinic, asking that I get there as soon as possible.  Char’s face was curiously blank when she showed me into one of the observation rooms, where Charlie and Tomas were sitting, holding onto each other for dear life.  There were tear tracks down Charlie’s cheeks, cutting through the blood and grime on her face.

Johnny immediately rushed to her side, but she flinched away and closer to her brother.  He backed up and turned to Char.  “What happened?” he demanded.

In a low undertone, she explained that her parents had been drinking again.  They got into a fight, which turned physical.  Charlie had tried to protect her mother a few times, but her father was bigger and stronger. 

She and Tomas had carried the body the four miles from their house to the clinic and begged Char and Alex to fix their mom because she wasn’t breathing anymore.

“They need someone,” Char whispered.  “I can’t stay with them, I have work.”

Johnny nodded determinedly.  “I’m on it,” he said.

This time, Charlie didn’t flinch as he approached her.  She started crying in earnest when he touched her arm, and my cousin, who got into fights every day, who was now more likely to get angry than scared, gripped her hand in his, watching her wordlessly.

That’s when I finally understood.  You don’t get off of Omega alive.  But by God, you can take as many with you when you go.

..... 

I leave for the clinic directly after work the next day.  Snow is waiting for me, and frowns with distaste when she sees my overalls and grimy appearance, although she doesn’t comment on it.  Instead she asks how work was.

“It was work,” I shrug.  The mines are honestly horrid to work in, and if I decide to push for longer hours, I sometimes think that I may very well end up dying in there, my body never to be recovered.  It’s stable pay though, if I go every day.

“Well, shall we?” Snow asks, indicating the entrance to the clinic.

Lymera is on duty when we go in.  “Good evening,” Snow says.  “We’re here to see the remains of Faith Allerleirauh.”

“Right, Mordin told us you’d be around,” Lymera answers.  “Go on through.  Bigby knows the way.”

I lead Snow through the clinic and to the door in the back, which leads to the clinic’s morgue.  The door is half open, and through it I hear raised voices.

“-insane, Char, what the hell were you thinking?” the male voice says.

“Dorian, seriously, you need to mind your own business,” Char replies, her voice level.  “This has nothing to do with you.”  I hold my arm up to block Snow’s way, wanting to hear what was being said.

“It has absolutely everything to do with me, Char, I work here,” Dorian’s voice is not nearly as calm. 

“It won’t affect work,” Char responds.  “It is something I had to do.”

“Had to do, my ass,” Dorian snaps.  “You’ve affiliated yourself with a gang, which means that they will be making demands from you.  Demands that may conflict with your duty here, to your patients.  And if that doesn’t happen, I’m sure a rival gang will be along to take you out.”

“That won’t happen,” Char objects.

“You’re from Omega and your father is a hotshot gangster, you seriously cannot be that naïve.”

“I don’t have all day,” Snow tells me, and there is a sudden silence from inside the morgue.

Dorian appears around a refrigerator.  “Can I help you?” he asks irritably.

“Yes, we’re here to see Faith Allerleirauh’s remains,” Snow says, pushing past me.

Char appears behind Dorian, her face red.  “Yeah, this way,” she says.

“Do you know about this, Bigby?” Dorian asks me, indicating the large plaster on Char’s neck.

“Mind your own business like the lady said, Pavus,” I say.

He scowls, but leaves the morgue.  Char sighs deeply, and picks up a datapad, waving for us to come into the morgue.

The slabs are full, as usual, and the morgue smells of formaldehyde.  Char crosses to a fridge and opens it, pulling the slab out.  “Here she is,” she says.  “Alex did the autopsy.  I have his notes here.  Victim’s name is Faith Allerleirauh.  It’s hard to say, but there are occupation markers of a prostitute.”

The victim is young.  Her face is bruised and her nose looks like it has been broken.  “What was cause of death?” Snow asks.

“It looked like a stroke,” Char say.  She doesn’t sound convinced though.

“You don’t sound sure,” I say.

“She was eighteen,” Char says.  “This age, she shouldn’t be dying of a stroke.  And it looks like the cause is weird.  Like all her neurons were firing at once.  This is the fifth girl who has died like this.”

“Couldn’t it be drugs?” I ask.

“She did have a high level of red sand and alcohol, but not high enough to cause a stroke of this level,” Char says.

“We were told this was a serial killer though,” Snow says carefully. 

“Yeah, all the girls that I mentioned that died of a stroke?” Char says.  “All working girls like this one.  Girls that wouldn’t necessarily be missed.”

“Were they all beat up like this one?” I ask.

“No,” Char says.  “There was evidence of penetration with this one too, and a bruised vaginal canal.  Possible sexual assault.  Rough sex at any rate.”

“The other girls have that as well?” Snow asks.

“Not as recent or as rough Faith’s,” Char says.  “We’ve ordered a DNA machine, although it hasn’t arrived yet.  Based on the consistency of the semen, it was a human.”

“You can tell that sort of thing?” I ask in amazement.

“You don’t want to know,” she remarks, grimacing.

“So, any way of telling who this girl’s pimp was?” Snow asks.

“Not quite, but I do have something,” Char says.  She turns the girl’s left wrist over, where a crescent moon, the Eclipse tag, was tattooed.  “Seems they’d be a good place to start.”

“Fantastic,” Snow groans.  “Eclipse hookers getting killed on our turf is not a good thing.”

“Also, she was married,” Char says.  “We found a diamond ring on her body.  Looked expensive.  Family heirloom maybe.  I would speak to Ver about it if I were you, Bigby.  Maybe he’d recognise it.  It’d help you track down the husband, who could at the very least give you more information on Faith.”

“Yeah, thanks,” I say.  “Send me a picture of it, will you?”  She nods.  “Are you working late tonight?”

“Yeah, I’m on a forty eight hour, so I’ll probably only be back day after tomorrow,” she says.  “Hopefully it’s a quiet night for a change so I can get some sleep, otherwise tomorrow is going to suck.  I have a bowel resection.”

“Alright, well message one of us to come fetch you,” I say.

“I will, thanks Bigby,” she says.  “Stay safe, ok?”

“You too,” I say. 

..... 

We all end up piling into Johnny’s flat that evening, mainly because my own is still largely unfurnished, and it gets annoying having to trek all the way down to the yard when we need to use the toilet.  Johnny however is conspicuously absent.

Charlie tells us of her and Garrus’ meeting with the Brotherhood.  “So, they all gather in this large…I want to call it pit, but I guess rink is pretty accurate,” Charlie begins.  “It’s at the bottom of Kenzo, and they have all their cars out and their working on them and shit.  Garrus straight up fucking walks over to the biggest and dumbest looking of the lot and is like, ‘Are you Maero’.  And he’s like, ‘Yeah, you Archangel?’  And Garrus says, ‘Yes, and this is my badass new partner in crime, Charlie Santiago’.”

“Yeah right he said that,” Jane scoffs.

“Who’s telling this story, you or me?” Charlie snaps.

“Look, at the speed that you tell the stories and the depth of details that you share, I would much rather listen to one of Ver’s,” Jane says.

“Hey,” Ver says.  “I would like you to know that I put some effort into my stories.”

“There’s an endorsement,” Jane snorts.

“Ok, for the love of Christ can Charlie please tell us what the fuck happened?” I snap.

“Thank you, Bigby,” Charlie says, smiling smarmily.   “Anyhoo, as I was saying before Jane rudely interrupted me like the rude Citadel brat that she is, Maero is this huge motherfucker.  Like he’s fucking bigger than Garrus, and that’s a big fucking achievement given that Garrus is not a small dude.  And he’s built like a tank.  No, two tanks.  He has this shitty mullet, and way too many tattoos.  Honestly, I couldn’t pick out the Brotherhood tag on his body, that’s how fucking inked he is.  He also has the guitarist for the Feed Dogs with him.  I guess he likes human supremacy.  And his girlfriend Jennifer is a fucking idiot.  Someone really needs to give her a slap in the face with a wet fish.”

“Jesus, Charlie, seriously, even I manage to get to the point faster than this,” Ver says.

Charlie scowls.  “Anyway, so Maero says something along the lines of, ‘Yo Archangel, I’m not a stupid little bitch, I know which way the wind is blowing and all that jazz.  Let’s divide Omega between the two of us.’  The guitarist gets up and has Maero sit down and the dude straight up starts tattooing Maero’s arm.  Like right there, no numbing or anything.  Shit was whack.”  I clear my throat.  “Right, so I’m just like, ‘don’t you think you got enough tattoos bruh,’ and Maero just says, ‘Girl, I got a lot of canvas left.’  I don’t think that’s all true, but if the dude wants to turn into a walking ink monster, I guess it’s his fucking life. 

“Maero’s all like, ‘I got a big shipment coming in that’s going to make the Brotherhood big on Omega, and I think your people are going to want to get in on the ground floor.’  Garrus asks what the offer is, and Maero says it’s twenty-eighty.  Garrus asks if the eighty is coming to us, and Maero is all tough like, ‘Yeah right bitch, as if.’ 

“Obviously, Garrus is fucking pissed off.  I mean twenty per cent.  Dick might as well keep the whole package.  Garrus says something like ‘You really expect me to take twenty per cent and say thanks?’  Maero says ‘On your hands and fucking knees.’  Garrus says, ‘You better be joking, I’m here to try and make things better for Omega, which I can’t do with only twenty per cent of whatever you bring in whilst you continue to run rough-shod over the people of Kenzo.’ 

“Maero says, ‘Are you fucking kidding me?’ or ‘You kidding me right?’, I can’t remember which.  He tries to get up, but the guitarist dude is all like, ‘Yo, Maero be cool, I’m busy here’, so Maero sat back down again, but he all macho like I’mma fuck you and your little bitch up.  He say ‘You really think that you and pissy little crew has a chance against the Brotherhood?’  And Garrus is just cold, like, ‘Come on Carlotta.’  So we left.”

“All that hype for that?” I ask incredulously.  “Seriously, Charlie, nothing happened.”

“A lot happened, actually,” Charlie says smugly.  “Garrus put me in charge of bringing down the Brotherhood.  Guess I impressed him or whatever, who knows.”

“So where are you going to start?” Jane asks.

Charlie shrugs.  “Don’t know, haven’t thought that far ahead,” she says.  “But I get to bring down a gang.  All by myself.”

“Yes, we’re all very proud of you,” Jane says boredly.  “Hey, Ver, you busy this weekend?”

“Not really,” Ver answers.

“Great,” Jane says.  “You and Bianca are invited to my and Jean’s birthday party on Saturday.  No Gozu hoodlums allowed I’m afraid, but I’ll see if I can bring you guys some cake.”

“You’re such a good friend, Jane,” I say. 

“Blame Father Shepard, not I,” Jane says.  “If I had my way, I’d invite all you nerds and turn it into the best motherfucking birthday party this space station has ever seen, and maybe even have Jeanie banned from the thing.”

“You’re a wonderful sister,” Ver says sarcastically.

“No,” Jane says.  “She is.  Hey, has anyone seen Johnny?  I’ve been camped out here since midday and he hasn’t been around at all.”

“We salvaged together this morning,” Ver says.  “He left me around ten.  I haven’t seen him since.”

There is a beat of silence.  “Oh God, what has he done now?” Jane sighs.

“Guys, it’s Johnny,” Charlie says impatiently.  “Honestly, yes, he’s always getting into trouble, but it’s not as if he ever does anything too terrible.”

Jane coughs.  “I would like to remind you of the events of December last year,” she says.

“Ok, fine yes, but the tunnel that he collapsed led to a new vein according to Ver, and the Gyvern family have left Omega, so there’s no lasting harm done,” Charlie says.  “I’m sure he’s fine.  Besides, we would have heard if there was any explosions in Omega self.”

“Yo, Ver, I need your help with something,” I say.

“What’s up?” he asks.

I open the photo that Char had sent to my omnitool and send it to Ver.  “This was found on a dead girl last night,” I say.  “Any idea who it belongs to?”

Ver opens the picture.  “That’s Faith Alleleirauh’s I think,” he says.  “Jane?”

Jane looks over his shoulder.  “Yup, definitely hers,” she says.  “Flashy piece.  I remember seeing her wearing that in Afterlife once and thinking she’s pretty brave.”

“Is she the dead girl?” he asks.

“Yeah,” I say.  “Do you know anything about her?”

“She comes from money, but I don’t think she was born on Omega,” Ver says.  “Something shady with her family though, I don’t know what.  She’s married to Lawrence Alleleirauh.  He’s the one who gave her that ring.  He has some sort of gambling problem though, and in the end he lost their place in Tuhi.  I haven’t seen either of them in years.”

“Any idea where they’re staying now?” I ask.

He shrugs.  “I heard it was somewhere in Gozu, but I can’t say where,” he says.  “I can try and find out though.”

“Do it,” I say.  “Jane, you see if you can find something as well.”

“You got it,” Jane says.  “Hey, anyone want to play cards?”

Five rounds in, the door opens, and Johnny comes stumbling into the flat.  He sees us all gathered on the floor and groans.  “Fucking figures,” he mumbles, stumbling towards the couch.  “Move, please,” he says to Jane, who is staring at him with wide eyes.

“Uh, yeah,” she responds, scrambling out of the way.  He collapses onto the couch.

“What the fuck happened to you?” Ver asks.

“Can you please not?” Johnny groans.

“No but seriously, what the fuck happened to you?” I ask.  Johnny looks up at me.  I sigh.  “Everyone out.”

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Charlie explodes.

“Carlotta Antionetta Beatriz Carmen Santiago, I will not repeat myself,” I say harshly.

“You are taking this dad of the group thing way to seriously,” she says irritably, but gets up and leaves.

I sit down in the easy chair.  “Dan?” I ask Johnny.  Usually he is gloating about his escapades, even when he loses.

“Yeah,” he replies.  His eyes shut again and his hands twist into fists.  “I fucking hate him, Bigby.”

“Yeah,” I say.  “I know.”

“Do me a favour,” he says.  “There’s ice in the freezer.  Get me some, will you?  I’m getting my new glasses soon and I want them to actually fit my face.”

I go to the fridge and grab the ice-tray, emptying it into a dishcloth and taking it back to the couch.  “Thanks man,” Johnny says, putting it against his eye.

“What happened?” I ask.

“Well, Dan beat up on me until I couldn’t get up anymore and then he threw me out onto the streets,” he says.  “It took me close to two hours to make it back because I kept falling over, and then you motherfuckers happened to still be here when all I really fucking want is to sleep this one off.”

“Yeah, sorry, my place still doesn’t have any furniture or anything,” I say.

“Not your fault,” he sighs, waving a hand.  “Honestly, I’d be fucking stressed if you assholes stopped visiting.”

“Is that a confession of love, Johnny?”

“You fucking wish.”

“So what caused the fight?” I ask.

Johnny opens an eye.  “What?”

“You heard me the first time, Gat.”

He sighs.  “I did,” he says.

“Jesus Christ, Johnny.”

“Don’t give me that, you may be a dad to everyone else in this group, but you can’t do that to me,” he says angrily.

“You’re right,” I say.  “So what happened?”

“Nothing,” he says.  “I mean, I went to visit my mom because after Lou-Ellen, I felt like I wanted to see her.  No surprise, he’s beating her around again.  Then he comes home whilst I’m still home, and he says shit, and I fucking lose it, like I always fucking do.  I knew that that was what he wanted me to do, that he wanted to beat me around, and I did it anyway.  Why the fuck do I suck so much?”

“Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic?” I ask.

Johnny pushes himself onto an elbow with a groan.  “You don’t understand you sullen motherfucker,” he says.

“Ok, what did he say that set you off?”

“It doesn’t matter,” he sighs.

“Oh, you’re back to beating up people for no fucking reason then?” I ask.  “I’m so glad you have had such huge character growth in the past six years Johnny.  No, really, this is fucking great.”

“Will you shut up?” Johnny snaps.  “Look I know I fucked up. Again.  You don’t need to beret me.”

“Berate,” I correct.

He glares at me.  “You have been hanging out far too long with the nerd squad,” he says.

“Sorry,” I say.  “Look, I’ve given you the speech.  You know it.  I don’t have to say it again.”

“Are you going to find me some fucking alcohol or are you going to keep saying things that I don’t give a fuck about?” he snaps.

I sigh.  “I’ll get one of the girls to sit with you,” I say.

“Not Jane,” he says.

I go out to the landing where Jane and Charlie are sharing a cigarette and Ver is busy typing something onto a datapad.

“You know those will stunt your growth, right?” I say, nodding at the cigarette.

“I’m already short, I don’t care,” Jane says.

“Right,” I say.  “Jane, go hang with Johnny.  The rest of us need to get food.”

“You got it,” Jane says.

..... 

I stop off at the clinic the next morning before going to work.  It seems relatively quiet, with only a few people sitting in the waiting room.  Pasha is on duty.

“You’re up early,” she remarks, kissing me on the cheek.

“Yeah, I’m leaving work early, and I want to get in some decent hours,” I say.  “How are things going here?”

“Fine,” she says.  “Quiet night.  How about you?  You look tired.”

“Friend crap,” I say.  “Don’t worry about it.  I brought you breakfast.”  I hold up the spiced roll.

“Aw babe, you’re the best,” she squeals, kissing me on the cheek.  “Hey, do you want to hang out tomorrow night?  I have the place to myself.”

“Sure, if I don’t have anything else on, it might be fun,” I say.  “Is Char in?”

“Yeah, she’s having coffee in the staffroom, go right in,” Pasha says.  “I’m off duty as soon as Lymera shows up.  Have a good day, ok?”

“You too,” I say.

I go through to the staff room.  Char seems to have just gotten out of bed because her scrubs are rumpled and her hair is undone and hanging down her back.  She is at the coffee machine, making probably the first of many cups of coffee.

She smiles when she sees me.  “Morning,” she says.  “You have an early start today?”

“Yeah, I don’t want to lose money because of this Archangel thing.”

“You know that you don’t have to join him,” she says.  “I’m not that reckless.  I can keep Charlie mostly in check, and she keeps Johnny in line.  It’s a knock-on effect.”

“’I’m not that reckless’?” I quote incredulously.  “Char, you literally punched a krogan.”

“He was asking for it,” she answers, smiling.   “Besides, Mr White Knight, you’ve been going around fighting a lot of people who were asking for it too recently.  What are you doing here in any case?  Is everything ok?”

“Yeah, I…uh got you breakfast,” I say, shoving the other spiced bun at her.

“Bigby, why?” she asks, taking the bun.  “Alex and Mordin make sure we eat.  You don’t have to get me food with your money.”

“I was getting myself one, and I figured you might want something other than nutrient paste,” I lie.

She smiles.  “Thanks,” she says.  “But seriously, this is the last time.  It’s your money.  You don’t have to keep buying me things.”

“Sheesh, Char, don’t make such a big deal, it’s just a fucking spiced bun,” I say.

She smiles again.  “Sorry,” she says.  “Have a good day, yeah?  I’ll see you guys tomorrow.”

“Sure thing,” I say.  “See you, Char.”

I steal one glance at her before leaving the room.  At the reception desk, Lymera has replaced Pasha.

..... 

I get out of work at five o’clock, and decide to grab dinner before meeting Snow.  I go to a krogan-run noodle deli and order shredded pork noodles, even though it is far more expensive than the varren noodles.  A man sits down next to me as I wait, and I don’t pay him any mind until he says my name.

I look up.  It takes me a moment to recognise him.  “Colin,” I say in surprise.  “You’re back?”

“Landed last week,” he replies.  “You’re looking well.”

“Wish I could say the same,” I reply.  “You look like shit.”

He shrugs his emaciated shoulders.  “Life hasn’t been easy,” he says.

“When is it ever easy for you?” I ask irritably. 

“Nice to know you haven’t changed,” Colin remarks as my noodles arrive.

I sigh.  “Why are you here?” I ask.

“Can’t I wish my younger brother many happy returns on his special day?” he asks.

“Sure,” I say.  “Except my birthday was last week.”

“Shit,” he mumbles.  “What’s the date, Bigby?”  I tell him.  “Well, everyone makes mistakes,” he sighs.  He watches my spoon as it travels from my bowl to my mouth.  “Was it good at least?” he asks.

“What?” I ask.

“Your birthday.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I say.  “Have you been home yet?”

“You know Dad says I’m not welcome there anymore,” Colin sighs.

“Right,” I say.  “So why are you talking to me then?”

“I’ve been asking around the district about you,” he says.  “Seems you have a bit of a reputation.  People really hate you around here.”

“Good,” I grunt.  “They’ll know not to mess with me.”

Colin snorts.  “No offence little brother, but you know that’s a lot of fucking bullshit,” he says.  “You can’t get anywhere in Terminus without a bit of charity.”

“I don’t need people and I certainly don’t need charity,” I snap.

“Your crew agree with you about that?” Colin asks.  “For that matter, what about that red head that you used to have a thing for.”

“If I were you, I would shut the fuck up right about now,” I say angrily.  “I have no problem beating the shit out of you again.”

“If that’s how you treat your oldest brother, I don’t want to know how you treat those less-familiar to you,” he says, his voice wounded.

“Well, like you say, I’m pretty hated,” I say.  “What do you want, Colin?”

He sighs.  “I’m hard up, little brother,” he says. 

“Of course you fucking are,” I say tiredly.

“I have a new venture offworld, I just need creds to hold me til then,” he explains.

“If I give you creds, will you go away and leave me alone?” I ask.

“Of course,” he says.

I sigh, open my omnitool and send my day’s pay cheque to his credit account.  “I don’t want to see you again,” I warn him.

“No fear there, Bigby,” he says.  “Give my love to Mom.”  He musses my hair before hopping from his stool and trotting off.

I turn back to my noodles, but find that I don’t have much of an appetite anymore.

..... 

I meet Snow at a rundown building in the Doru District.  “Good day?” she asks.

“Honestly, my day consists of operating heavy machinery,” I say.  “I don’t know why anyone thinks that that could be interesting.”

“Don’t get excited, Bigby, it’s just a courtesy,” she says.

“Right,” I say, making a mental note to look courtesy up in Jane’s dictionary when I get home.  “Why are we here?”

“This is a motel of sorts,” Snow says.  “Owned by a salarian named Mr Toad.”  I raise my eyebrows.  “Apparently, he’s slimy as a toad,” she shrugs.  “Not sure what his real name is.  Anyways, I was in the neighbourhood, passing Faith’s picture around, and he said he’d seen her check in last night with a…shall we say customer?  Couldn’t remember much else, but he called me about half-an-hour ago to say that someone is searching the room she’d been staying in.”

“So we catch whoever it is and make him talk?” I ask.

“That’s the plan,” she replies.

“Alright, well, let’s do it,” I say.  I look up.  “I must say, this place…” my voice trails off.

“What is it?” Snow asks.

I indicate upwards with my chin.  In a window on the second floor, the figure of a man is watching us.  As soon as he sees that I have noticed him, he moves back into the room.  I quickly count which number the window is, before following Snow into the motel.

..... 

Mr Toad (or at least that’s who I think the salarian man is) seems to be surprised to see us.  “Oh Miss White,” he exclaims.  “I hope you didn’t come all this way for nothing.”

“Uh, what do you mean?” Snow asks.

“That little bother I was talking about earlier,” he says.  “It was a false alarm.  I thought someone was in the Eclipse hooker’s room from last night, but turns out there wasn’t.”

“What room was she in?” I ask.

He stares at me, frowning.  “This is my associate, Bigby Wolf,” Snow explains.  “Answer his question please.”

“Right,” Mr Toad says.  “She was in room 238, if memory serves.”

“The second floor?” I ask, and he nods.  “That’s the room that the man had been in,” I murmur to Snow.  “We would like to see the room,” I say to Mr Toad.

“Of course, of course,” he says.  “Follow me.”

Picking up a bunch of keys, he leads the way up the stairs to the second floor.  The inside of the room is as rundown as the rest of the motel, and there is evidence of a struggle, with the sofa and the bed both being overturned, the sink smashed and blood smeared on the walls.

“I’ll be downstairs,” Mr Toad says, and disappears.

“Nice place,” I remark.

“Yeah,” Snow responds.  “What do you think happened here?”

“Looks like a fight,” I say.  I go over to the smashed sink.  There is a long dark hair trapped in the blood on the broken edge.

“Hey Bigby,” Snow says, sounding uncertain.

“Yup,” I say.

“I’ve been asking about Gozu District about you,” she says.  Her cheeks flush when I look at her.  “You have kind of a reputation there.”

“So I’ve been told,” I say shortly.

“People really don’t like you,” she says.  “They say you’re a meddlesome asshole.”

“I see shit going down, I intervene,” I snap.  “If it doesn’t make me friends, so be it.”

“Maybe, but I do think softly-softly might be the better strategy here, so if you could reel it in a bit here,” Snow says.

“Sure, whatever,” I say, turning back to the sink.

At that moment, there is the sound of raised voices and crying from downstairs.  “What the fuck?” I mumble.

“We should probably go see what that is about,” Snow says.

I follow her downstairs, and to the door marked “Private”, behind which the noise was coming from.  Snow knocks on the door.

“Is everything alright, Mr Toad?” she calls.

The door opens and an annoyed-looking Mr Toad, who is now wearing one of those weird salarian headdresses, sticks his head around it.  “I’m so sorry for calling you two out unnecessarily,” he says, seemingly harried.  There is the sound of mewling coming from within the flat that sounded a lot like a distressed salarian.

“Sure whatever,” I say.  “Just so that it’s not a total waste of time, mind if we look around inside?”

He looks very much as if he does mind, but he stands aside to allow Snow and I to enter the flat.  Inside it, a much younger-looking salarian is standing, trying very hard not to look too upset.  And the flat is in a mess.  The sort of mess I would only expect from Johnny Gat.  “Want to take care of the kid?” I murmur to Snow.  “I’ll handle things out here.” 

She nods and goes over to the kid.  “Hey,” she says.  “My name is Snow.  What’s yours?”

“Teejae,” he responds uncertainly.

“Well, Teejae, you strike me as the sort of boy that has a very interesting bedroom,” Snow says.  “Want to show it to me whilst Mr Wolf talks to your father?”

The boy’s eyes light up.  “I have a roach collection,” he tells her.

“A roach collection?” Snow exclaims.  “That is so cool.  I want to see it.”

“Come on,” he says enthusiastically.  “I’m trying to breed them.  You should see how awesome it is.”

She follows him through a door on the other end of the living room, leaving me with Mr Toad.

“So what happened?” I ask.

“Nothing,” he says again.  “I thought I heard someone upstairs in the room the dead human girl hired, but it turned out to be a leaky pipe.”

“There was someone up there,” I say.

“That so?” he asks.  “I suppose there’s still life in these auditory sensors of mine after all.”

“I’m not sure why you’re lying to me, but it’s getting fucking old,” I say irritably.

“Oh no, no lie, Mr…Wolf?” he gives me an enquiring look.

“Right,” I say.  “What can you tell me about what happened last night?”

“A human male came here with a female, the dead girl,” Mr Toad explains.  “He had a key to the place, so I didn’t charge him.  Usually this sort of thing signifies transactions with prostitutes, and that room is already paid upfront.  A while later there was a bit of a ruckus that came from upstairs.  The male left soon after.  He seemed angry.  The dead girl left after this.  She had been badly beaten.”

“You heard all that and you didn’t go and investigate?” I ask incredulously.

“It’s not my concern what happens in the rooms as long as I get paid,” he says.  “I respect the privacy of my clients.”

“Yeah, you’re a real fucking saint,” I snap.  “What else can you tell me?”

“That’s it,” he answers.  “Are you going to leave now?”

“Not until I’m done here,” I say.

“Sure, take your time,” he says sarcastically, and mutters something under his breath.

I step further into the room.  In the middle of the room lies a broken desk lamp.  “How did this happen?” I ask him.

“The spawn must have knocked it over in one of his crazier experiments this morning,” Mr Toad says.  “I haven’t gotten around to cleaning it up yet.”

“This desk?” I ask, indicating the nearest table.

“That’d be it yes,” Mr Toad says.

I glance at the power outlet next to the table, noting that it is full, before moving further into the room.

“So why do they call you Mr Toad?” I ask.

“Some human called me that, and it stuck,” he asks.  “I like it.  No one knows my real name.”

“Stupid,” I mumble under my breath.

I notice a blood spatter on the wall.  “What happened here?” I ask.

“Eh?” he asks.

“Blood,” I say.  “On the wall.”

“Oh, I, uh, cut my hand,” he says.  “Must have got some on the wall.”

“I don’t see any cuts on your hands,” I remark.

“Salarians heal fast,” he says.

“Is that a fact,” I say.  On the floor, near the blood stain is a heavy box that looks like it would carry some jewellery, were it to belong to a human woman.  “Where’s the boy’s mother?” I ask, picking it up.

“Back on Sur’Kesh,” Mr Toad answers.  “Took the rest of the spawn with her.  I managed to keep Teejae.”

“Where’s Sur’Kesh?” I ask.  I turn the box in my hands.

“The salarian homeworld,” he answers.

“Huh,” I say, finding blood on one of the box’s corners.

“What is it?” he asks, sounding decidedly anxious.

“Blood again,” I say frowning.  It was still slightly sticky.

“Yeah, that’s mine too,” Mr Toad says.  “I dropped it on my foot.”

“Bit accident prone aren’t you?” I remark.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, you cut your hand and your foot on the same day?” I ask.

“Right, I, uh, cut my hand and got such a fright I dropped it on my foot,” Mr Toad says.

I squint up at the stain on the wall, and then swing the box in an arc towards it.  “For fucks sake just say whatever you’re thinking,” Mr Toad groans.

“You’re lying to me,” I say.

He snorts.  “And whatever makes you say that?” he asks.

“Because you don’t have a cut on your hand, the blood splattered the wall too high to have come from your hand, and that lamp wasn’t on that table, it was on this one,” I snap, indicating the table under the window.

To his credit, Mr Toad keeps his cool.  “Why should the lamp have been there?” he asks.

I cross to the lamp and pick it up, slamming it down on the table I had indicated.  “Space in the dust matches its shape perfectly,” I say angrily.  “You’d better start telling the truth, or I am going to get fucking pissed.”

“Ok, so I don’t keep the place tidy,” he says indignantly.  “That’s no reason for you to be here pointing it out.”

“You’re seriously going to go with that excuse?” I ask incredulously.  “You don’t keep the place tidy, which is why it looks like someone’s been fucking brawling in here.”

“It’s the truth.”

I glare at him.  “Oh please,” I snap.  “I’ve heard better lies from my foreman when I ask for a rai-,”  I stop talking sharpish.  “You’re bleeding, Mr Toad,” I say, nodding at the blood that has seeped through his ridiculous headdress.

He puts a hand up against the blood and sighs.  “That’s a bother,” he says.

“No kidding,” I say.  “Someone hit you with the box?”

“One of the twins,” he says.

“Twins?” I ask.

“The vorcha twins with the Bloodpack,” he says.  “Dum and Dee.  I doubt their mother would be able to tell them apart in their underwear.”

“Can anyone tell vorcha apart in general?” I ask.  He glares at me.  “Sorry, continue,” I say.

“He came rushing down here, just before you lot got here,” he says.  “My boy was down here.  He told me to send you all away.  Then when you went upstairs, he tried to leave with Teejae.  I threw the lamp at him, he retaliated by hitting me with a box and forcing the window open and leaving down the alley.  Thankfully he dropped Teejae.”

My omnitool beeps.  “Excuse me,” I say to him, answering the call.  “What?” I say, slightly too aggressively.

“Answering the phone semi-politely is generally a good idea, Bigby,” Jane says.  “Particularly when I have news that will make you love me forever.”

“I doubt it,” I say.  “What have you got?”

“The last known address of your dead girl,” she says.

“You’re brilliant, Jane,” I say.

“Told you,” she says triumphantly.  “Thanks a bunch by the way for leaving me alone with Johnny the other day.  He was a miserable bastard.  Made my day.  Worse that is.”

“Yeah, whatever,” I say.  “Text me the address.”

“Not even a ‘thank you, Jane, you so great’?” she asks.

“Do you want a cookie?” I snap.  “Just text me the damn address.”

There’s a deep sigh.  “Miserable bastard,” she says.  “See you later.”

She hangs up, and I turn back to Mr Toad.  “Is there anything else you can tell me?” I ask him. 

“Nothing that I can think of,” he says.

“Alright, well, if you think of anything else, call Ms White or me,” I say.

“Oh don’t worry, I will.”  He sounds somewhat venomous.  I decide to ignore him, knocking on the door that Snow and Teejae had disappeared through instead.

“Snow, you about ready to leave?” I call.

..... 

I explain to Snow what happened as well as what Jane had found as we walk to Gozu.  “Did you know her?” I ask.

“Pardon me?”

“The dead girl, Faith,” I say.  “Did you know her?  She also came from Tuhi.”

“How did you know I come from Tuhi?” she asks.

“You have that look,” I say. 

She laughs.  “Whatever does that mean?” she asks.

“You’re well-fed, wearing flashy clothes and you say things like ‘whatever does that mean’,” I say, annoyed.  “I’ve had a lot of opportunity to observe the assholes from Tuhi working for the Tethras’.”

“Well then yes, I’m from Tuhi, but I wasn’t born on Omega,” Snow says.

“Where are you from then?” I ask.

“Daratar,” she says.  I have no idea where that is, but I don’t say anything.  “My father is the co-owner of White Crane Shipping Incorporated,” she continues.  That name is more familiar to me.  They’re the ones responsible for shipping defective goods from Citadel to Terminus.  “He and Uncle Bod are pretty loaded, so yes, I come from money.  I’ve never starved, I have the first pick of the clothes that are shipped in from Citadel Space, and I am probably one of ‘those assholes from Tuhi’.  Life is pretty comfortable for me.”

“Then why join Archangel’s?” I ask.  “Your family is not going to be benefitted by the gangs being destabilised.”  It was common knowledge that the gangs funded a large portion of the privately-owned organisations, such as Tethras Mining and White Crane Shipping Incorporated.

“Because Daratar is Eclipse-run, and we don’t see any warfare there,” she says.  “Sure, the people are poor, but the Eclipse makes sure that they don’t starve and have enough clothes and stuff.  That’s not so here.  The constant war between the gangs means that a lot of normal people are getting hurt.”

“Yeah, but a lot of your income will also be fucked if we shut down the gangs,” I point out.

“My family has more than enough money as it is,” Snow says, but I know this is not the whole truth.  “But in answer to your question earlier, no, I didn’t know Faith personally.  She had a bit of a reputation though.  She was a party girl from what I understand.  Left home as soon as her boyfriend was old enough to get a flat.”

We arrived at the flat, which is on the twelfth floor of a rundown block similar to the one where my parents stay.  The door is ajar when we get there, and I try to peak through the crack.

“Seriously, don’t hover on the doorstep,” Snow says irritably. 

I hear a slight scuffling inside, so I call out in a low voice.  There is no answer.  I push the door open.  The flat is in darkness, so the first thing to hit me is the smell.

“What is that?” Snow chokes out, gagging.

My hand fumbles along the wall for a light switch.  I find it and flick it on.  “Oh my God,” Snow gasps.

The flat is in a mess, worse than Johnny’s on a bad day.  Lying in the centre of the floor (and a pool of blood), is a young man.

“Bummer,” I sigh. 

Snow rushes to the man’s side and turns him around.  He groans.  “He’s still alive,” Snow gasps.

“Yeah, not for long,” I mumble, my eyes on the gunshot wound to the chest.

The man (who I presume is Lawrence Alleleirauh) whispers something.  “He needs water,” Snow tells me, leaning in close to hear.

“He needs an undertaker,” I reply.

“Just do it,” she says, rolling her eyes.

I go to the kitchen and try to find a clean glass.  “Hurry, Bigby,” Snow calls after me.

I give up and grab one of the dirty glasses piled in the sink and fill it with water.  To my surprise, Lawrence is still alive when I get back.  Snow takes the glass and tips its contents into his mouth.

“Are you alright?” she asks.  “Can you tell us what happened?”

“Faith,” he whispers, and his eyes close.

“Ok, now can I call the undertaker?” I ask.

“We should figure out what happened here,” Snow says.  She looks determined, in spite of the bloodstains down her pretty blouse.  Despite myself, I am somewhat impressed.

“Right,” I say.  She moves Lawrence so that he is lying on his back, and I crouch down next to him. 

I turn his head to the left to see his tag.  “Talons,” I murmur.  “And she was hooking for the Eclipse.  They must really have fallen on hard times if this is what they resorted to.”

“Cause of death is obvious,” Snow said, nodding to the gunshot wound.

“I don’t think that’s as important as to who did this,” I say.

“Knowing cause leads us to the killer, Bigby, that’s detectiving one oh one,” she says.

“Oh excuse me,” I mumble.  There is a pistol lying next to Lawrence, and a lot of blood on the chair behind his body.  “Looks like he was shot here,” I say.

“Why would the murderer leave the gun behind?”

“Not sure this is murder,” I say quietly.  I point to the words written in the blood next to his right hand.

“’I’m sorry’,” Snow reads.  “You think he did this to himself?”

“It’s possible,” I say.

I walk slowly around the room, trying to find some more information, before opening the closet door.

A vorcha jumps out of it, bodychecking me and runs out of the door.  “Stay here,” I shout to Snow before following him.

“Like hell,” I hear her snap.

The vorcha seems intent on losing me, because he cuts through an apartment block, breaking down the door to someone’s flat and leaping through the window and into the next block.  I follow, barely grabbing onto the window ledge as my feet dangle towards the alley below.

“Get it together,” I snap, pulling myself through the window and following the vorcha.

He has run down the hall and jumped through another window, and I follow without looking where he landed.  A fatal mistake, it seems, given that this alleyway is significantly broader, and there is no way I will make it into the next block.

I land hard in a dumpster, on top of the stupid vorcha.

“You motherfucker,” I gasp, rubbing the stitch in my ribs.  “Why did you run?”

“You chase,” he screeches.

“Yeah, because you fucking ran,” I said.  I grab him by the shirt and drag him out of the dumpster, slamming him against the alley wall.  “What the fuck were you doing at Lawrence’s place?”

“Me no tell you,” the vorcha says.

“You don’t want to push me on this,” I snap.

“We on same team, Bigby Wolf,” he says.

“How do you know who I am?” I ask.

The vorcha almost has a knowing look in his eyes, somewhat alarming in itself, given that vorcha generally don’t know anything. 

“We go together to Trip Trap and talk to man who beat Faith,” he says.

I stare at him.  “What’s the Bloodpack’s interest in a dead Eclipse prostitute?” I ask slowly.

The vorcha actually laughs.  “Ask Woody,” he screeches.  “We find him at Trip Trap.”

“Woody the fucking child molester?” I snap.

“He with Faith night she dies,” the vorcha says.  “We ask him what happened.”

“Or you can just tell me,” I say.  “Why the song and dance?”

“Dum,” he says.

“You’re right it’s dumb, it’s fucking stupid that you make me chase you, say we’re on the team and don’t want to tell me anything,” I snap.

“No,” the vorcha says.

“No?” I echo.

“Me Dee,” he says.  “He Dum.”

Something comes crashing down on my head and I fall into darkness.

..... 

I wake up to the sight of Snow’s head upside down above me.  “You looked almost peaceful,” she sighs regretfully.

“Well, this is annoying,” I groan.  “What happened?”

“The other vorcha hit you on the back of the head,” she says.

“Yeah, I figured that out,” I say.

“And then his brother started kicking you,” she says.

“Explains the ribs,” I groan, rubbing them. 

“They stopped when I got here though,” she says.  She holds out a hand and helps me up.

“So, learn anything useful?” she asks.

“The vorcha said to go to the Trip Trap and ask Woody,” I say.

“The Trip Trap?”

“Suns-owned bar in Gozu District,” I say.  “It’s really shit.  Everyone says that the Suns are using it to funnel drug money.  It’s almost always empty.  Doesn’t surprise me that Woody involved in this.”

“You know him?” she asks, falling in step behind me.

“If it’s the axe man Woody, then yeah, I know him,” I say.  She raises an eyebrow.  “Walks around Gozu as if he owns the place, carries a big fucking axe and treats women like shit.  I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he was somehow involved in a conspiracy surrounding dead hookers.  That’s his style.”

“Well, unless the bar is open all day, it’s probably closed right now,” Snow says, glancing at her omnitool.  “It’s after one.”

I sigh.  My head is killing me.  “I guess we’ll go tomorrow evening,” I say.

“Oh, I can’t tomorrow,” she says.  She blushes.  “I’m heir to the business, and Uncle Bod, Aria and Dad are having a meeting I need to attend.”

“Ok, I’ll go alone then,” I say.

“Will you be ok?” she asks anxiously.  “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“I’ll be fine,” I say.  “I can ask one of my crew to join me.  Come on, I’ll walk you home.”

..... 

I get back to my flat close to four in the morning, the time I would normally be getting up to go to work.

It’s fine, I’ll just work later today, I tell myself, lying down on the floor and covering myself with my jacket.  Just a few hours of sleep first.

The last thing I think before falling asleep is that I really need to get myself a bed this weekend.

..... 

I wake up a few short hours later to the sound of my flat door opening.  “Oh, I didn’t realise you were here,” a voice says.

“Hey Char,” I say, waving a hand.

“Hey,” she says.  “Sorry, I wanted some place to crash for a few hours.”

“It’s ok,” I say.  “You’re welcome to any part of the floor.”

“Thanks,” she says.  I feel the top of her head touch mine as she lay down.  “Good day?” she asks.

“Fairly interesting,” I answer, feeling in my pockets for a cigarette.  I don’t find any.  “Hey, you have-?”

“I got you,” she says.  I hear a lighter flick open and then she passes a cigarette over to me.

“Thanks,” I say.  “How was your day?”

“Fine,” she says.  “Bowel resection went well.  Aren’t you going to work today?”

“I will in a bit,” I say.  “I only got back at four, and I wanted to catch some sleep.”

“Fair enough,” she says.  We are silent for a bit as I smoke.  “Hey Bigby.”

“What’s up?” I ask.

“I’ve been thinking: I should move back to my dad’s.”

“Why the fuck would you want to do that?” I ask.

“Well, he suggested it, but I think it’s a good idea,” she says.  “I’ll be in the best position to hear what’s going on, what they’re planning.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I object.

“Of course you don’t,” she sighs.  “Why don’t you think it’s a good idea?”

“Because your dad is a piece of shit,” I say.

“Look, I’m not going to argue with you there,” she says.  “But he wasn’t awful to me at any rate.  He just, you know, forgot to feed me and-,”

“And kicked you out of the house when you were seven years old,” I finish.

“Right,” she says.  “The only time he physically hurt me was when he caught me stealing, which he hopefully won’t do again.  I’m fourteen and I know how to take care of myself, so we don’t have to worry about him forgetting to give me food, and he suggested that I move home, so he won’t kick me out in a hurry.  Even if he does, who cares?  I’ve been homeless for half my life now.”

“I still don’t like it,” I say.

“Nor do I really,” she says, and I feel her shudder.  “Especially since Vido is also going to be there.”

“He tries any shit with you, you tell me or you tell Johnny ok?” I say.

“I doubt he will, given that it will piss Zaeed off, but I’ll tell you,” she says.  There is a pause.  “I can’t help but feel that this is all going to end badly for us, Bigby,” she says quietly.

I know what she means, but I say, “Don’t worry.  I’ll make sure we all get out of here in one piece.”

“I know you will,” she says.  “But you need to be careful too.  You’re not invulnerable.”

“I don’t know what that means, but I’ll be careful,” I promise.  I groan and get up.  “I should probably get to it, and you should probably go to sleep,” I say.

“Sure,” she sighs.  “See you later, Bigby.”

..... 

At work, I send a message asking that either Johnny or Charlie meet me at the Trip Trap after work.  When I get there, it is Ver waiting outside.  “I asked for the strongest two and they send me the weakest of the lot,” I grumble.

“Yeah, sorry, both are doing stuff for Archangel,” he replies.

I sigh.  “It’s fine, whatever,” I say.  “You’d better do exactly what I tell you though.”

“I’m not a child, Bigby,” he says irritably.

“You kind of are though,” I say. 

“I’m two months younger than you,” he mutters as I push the bar door open.

It is virtually empty, as usual, with only a krogan occupying the bar.  “What the fuck are you doing here?” the asari bartender, Aethyta, asks.

“You know this human, Aethyta?” the krogan asks.

“He’s the one that’s always coming in here and stealing booze,” Aethyta snaps.

“Great, this is already going well,” Ver mutters.

“I’m not here about that,” I say loudly, raising my hands.  “I’m looking for Woody.”

“What the fuck do you want with him?” the krogan asks.  I think his name is Grin or Grem or something like that.

“It’s in connection with the dead girl found on Kima District,” I say.

“Well, he ain’t here,” Aethyta says, although she doesn’t look convinced.

“Really,” I say.  “Because he’s here every other night.  You trying to tell me that the night I decide to drop in on a visit is the one night he chooses not to be here?  Seems mighty coincidental.”

“Coincidence or not, he isn’t here, so why don’t you fuck off now?” the krogan grunts.

“But the night is still young, my good chaps,” I say.  “Am I using that right?” I ask Ver in an undertone.

“Sure,” he says.

“I think we’ll stick around,” I say.  I sit down in the stool next to the krogan.

“There’s how many other seats you could be sitting at,” he grumbles.

“Yet only one next to you,” I say.

“If you’re staying, you need to buy a drink,” Aethyta says angrily.

I reach in my pocket and pull out three cigarettes.  “Uncut ale,” I say.

“You want a lime with that?” she asks.

I shrug.  “Sure, why not,” I say.

“Afterlife has limes,” she says.

I open my mouth and freeze at the sound of flushing coming from the bathroom.  Next thing, a tall bearded man walks into the bar.  He hesitates when he sees me before crossing to a seat at the other end of the bar.  It is clear that he is very drunk.

“You’re in luck,” I tell the krogan.  “Decided to change seats.”

I get to my feet, and the krogan grabs my arm.  “I really wouldn’t do that,” I say coldly.  “I just want to talk.  That’s all.”

“Maybe he doesn’t want to talk,” the krogan grunts.

“Yeah?” I ask.  “Maybe he can talk for himself.”

“It’s ok, Gren,” Woody says.

Gren glares menacingly at me a few seconds longer, before letting me go.  I walk to Woody, Ver close behind like an annoying lapdog.

“Weird,” I say lightly, sitting down next to Woody.  Aethyta pours a strong-smelling drink and places it in front of him.  “Just a few minutes ago, no one knew where you were.”

“Yeah, well, everyone around here knows you,” Woody says.  “The idiot kid who steals from the rich and gives to the poor.”

“Correction,” I say.  “I steal from gangs and lowlife who willingly support the gangs.  But I’m not here about that.  Not today.  Archangel sent me.”

“Right,” he says dully.  “I’ve been expecting this.”

“You have?” I ask in surprise. 

“Case closed, it seems,” Ver says quietly.

“Yep,” Woody sighs.  He is clearly sad drunk tonight.

“Well,” I say.  “Why did you do it?”

“For the same reason a lot of people do bad things,” he says.  “Because I could.”  He sighs and downs the drink.  “I’d been watching her for weeks.  She was…she was so pretty.  So perfect.  I knew she wouldn’t give a guy like me the time of day, but I had to taste, you know what I mean?”

“No,” I say.  “I don’t.”

“I timed it so well,” he says.  “I had been watching her so long enough to know her routine.  I knew who her friend was, and she was more than willing to help me.”  I am now beginning to feel sick, and I can tell from Ver’s disgusted noise that he is too.  “But then you showed up,” Woody continues.  “Like an avenging fucking angel.  I know what I did was wrong, but…when a girl refuses you like that, you sort of lose control.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?” I snap.

“The girl you caught me fucking,” Woody says.  “I didn’t want Ashley to die.  Pity she had to do that to herself.”

“Whatever, I already know that story,” I say.  “I’m here about Faith.”

“Who?”

“The Eclipse hooker you were beating on the other night.”

“What about her?” Woody asks.

“You don’t deny it?” I ask.

“Why would I?” he asks.  “I doubt Archangel would send out men over a beat up Eclipse girl.”

“No, but he would over a dead Eclipse girl found on his turf,” I say.

“What?” he asks in shock. 

“She’s dead,” I say.

“No,” Woody says.  I am sadistically pleased to see that he looks scared.  “No no no, I was here.  Ask anyone.”

“It really doesn’t look good when a girl you were smacking around shows up dead a few fucking hours later,” I push.  I am aware of the tension in the room mounting, as both Aethyta and Gren turn to look at us.

“Bigby, listen to me,” Woody says, getting to his feet.  His eyes are actually full of tears.  “I’m a piece of shit, I know that.  I shouldn’t have hit that girl, but you have to believe me, I didn’t kill her.”  His voice breaks.  “Shit, Archangel’s going to kill me.  Like you said, it looks fucking bad.  It looks really bad, but I didn’t do it.”

“Bigby,” Ver says in a low voice.

“Shut up,” I tell him.

“He was here,” Gren says.  “That’s the fucking truth, boy.”

“You see?” Woody whispers desperately.  “Bigby please.  You can’t.  Archangel doesn’t like it when this sort of thing happens on his turf.  He’ll have me fucking killed.  That’s what he’ll do and I didn’t do it.  You know that, right?”

Gren downs his drink and slams the empty glass onto the bar, before getting to his feet and making his way towards us.  Woody also gets to his feet.

“Hey, stop,” he says.  “This isn’t what I want.”

“Shut the fuck up, Woody,” Gren shouts.  “This shit ain’t just about you.  It’s about this lapdog who has been sent on a witch hunt by that fucking Archangel.  Ain’t that right, boy?”

“No,” I snap.  “You all work for the Suns.  You can be damned glad Archangel sent me to find a murderer and not to close your drug den down.”

“Oh yeah?” Gren snaps.  “And when our sister goes missing, no one gives two shits about that, even though we went to Archangel about it.  You know what we got instead?  An interview with that Snow White bitch, who tells us that they’ll look into it.”

I get up from my stool.  “I wouldn’t call her that if I were you, fucker,” I say coldly.

“Oh, I didn’t realise you were the bitch of the bitch,” Gren says, a leering smile on his face.

I punch him as hard as I can.  Gren barely seems to feel it, as he swats me away with one hand.

“Should have walked out of here when you had the chance,” he says, lumbering over to me as I slowly get to my feet.

“Come on now,” I say.  “You’re scaring the lady.”

I fall on my back again as a stool is thrown my way.  “I wouldn’t worry about her if I were you,” Aethyta says.

“Bigby, are you ok?” Ver asks as Gren punches down towards me.

“Yeah great,” I say, rolling out of the way of his fist and onto my feet again.  I duck another stool thrown my way by Aethyta.  “Distract Aethyta, could you?” I say.  “She has wicked fucking biotics.”

Gren grabs and slams me upwards against the ceiling fan.  I grab one of its blades, which comes away in my hand as Gren pulls me downwards again.  I hit him hard in the face with it, and he drops me momentarily.  Next thing, I am thrown against the far wall.  I find my feet again, in time to see Gren slide the pool table in my direction.  I jump onto it, grab a few of the balls and throw them at him.  This only seems to make him angrier.

I am thrown against another wall, this time finding my feet with somewhat less agility.  He throws a few tables and chairs my way, before I grab a pool cue and jam it into the fleshy part of his face next to his nose.

He gives a roar of pain before breaking the cue and grabbing me by the feet and slamming me heavily into the floor.  He does this twice before someone who sounds a lot like Woody shouts “He’s had enough.”

Ver’s face appears above me.  He has a bloody nose, but otherwise seems unharmed.  “Are you ok?” he asks anxiously.  I groan loudly.  “Bigby?”

“This is the second fucking beating I’ve had in two days,” I groan.  I sit up.  The room spins slightly, but nothing seems broken.

“You should stay down,” Ver says.

“I’m fine, Ver,” I say.  “Strong bones.  Don’t worry about it.”

“I would leave if I were you,” Woody advises us.  “Take your fucking nanny with.”

“Right,” I mumble.

The door to the bar opens before I reach it, and an asari girl walks in.  She takes in the scene, before turning to me.  “Bigby Wolf?” she asks.

“Yeah?” I reply.

“You’re wanted at the clinic,” she says.  “Come on.”


	6. Jane or: oh yeah those can be vicious

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another super long chapter, so enjoy.
> 
> I'm fast running out of already-written chapters to upload, so it is very possible that I will only upload again after the summer holiday (ie end of August). So...sorry about that I guess. I promise I won't abandon this fic, I just have a lot going on in my life right now.

Char and I are hanging out at Bigby’s place when the message comes for both of us to go to the clinic.  Johnny and Charlie are out doing stuff for Archangel, and Bigby and Ver are at the Trip Trap.

“Are you sure they’re asking for both of us?” Char asks the scout that has come to fetch us.

“Alex asked for you,” the scout replies.  “Bigby Wolf asked for the Shepard girl.”

“Did he say what he needed us for?” I ask the girl as Char pulls on her shoes.

“No,” the scout replies.  “But it seems urgent.  A body came in.”

Char grabs her work bag and together we follow the scout to the clinic in Gozu.  “What do you think is going on?” I whisper to Char.

“Don’t know,” she replies.  “It’s a quiet enough evening.  And why would Bigby want you?”

“Probably needs information,” I sigh.  That seems to be my sole purpose for the crew sometimes: supply of information and English lessons.

The clinic is quiet.  Bigby’s booty caller greets us.  “They’re in the morgue,” she says, a distasteful expression that probably has nothing to do with the morgue on her face.

“Thank you, Pasha,” Char says.

Inside the morgue Alex, Felix, Bigby and Ver, the latter two looking somewhat the worse for wear, are gathered around a gurney.  They look up when the morgue door shuts behind us.

“What the fuck happened to you two?” I ask Bigby and Ver. 

Bigby’s face is closed off, like when he’s really upset about something.  Ver meanwhile merely looks puzzled.

“Charlie, sorry for calling you in,” Alex says to Char.  “A body came in, and we’re getting chatter that there’s some sort of fighting on the western districts.  Think you can handle this whilst Felix and I prepare the clinic?”

“Sure, yeah,” Char says, grabbing a pair of gloves and putting them on.  “Do we have ID on the victim?”

“Yes,” Felix says.  “Snow White.”

..... 

“How did this happen?” I ask Bigby quietly as Char sets about taking x-rays of the body.

“I don’t know,” he replies.  “Ver and I were at the Trip Trap when one of the clinic scouts came to fetch us.  Alex says that she’s been dead about twenty hours, maybe slightly longer.”

“When last did you see her?” I ask.

“This morning, around two thirty,” he says.  “I walked her home, watched her go through her front door.  Twenty hours later, she shows up dead in Kima.”

“No visible cause of death,” I hear Char narrate to her omnitool as she walks around the gurney.  “Victim appears to be in her late teens to early twenties.  Dark hair, blue eyes.  Abrasions sustained from a knife it seems on the upper arms and legs.  Indications of torture?  Nothing deep enough to be fatal.  Dressed in jeans, a blouse and trainers.  Time of death approximately twenty to twenty four hours ago.  Awaiting x-rays and MRI scans to develop.  Victim positively identified by Brian Wolf of Tima District as Snow White of Tuhi District.  Victim was found in a water tank in Kima District.”  She turns to us.  “What happened to you two?” she asks.

“Bigby fought a krogan and I battled an asari,” Ver says. 

“Oh yeah those can be vicious,” I say sarcastically.

“Uh biotics, Jane,” he says irritably.  “They can throw shit at you with their minds.”

I roll my eyes.  “Are you two ok though?” Char asks.  “Some of those bruises look nasty.”

“We’re fine,” Bigby says shortly.

The terminal beeps, and Char turns to it.  “No evidence of internal trauma,” she says, examining the x-rays.  She brings up the MRI scans.  “Ah,” she says.  “Cause of death appears to be damage to the periadequeductal grey area.  Interesting.  This is congruent to the damage seen on the Kima Five.”  She opens the x-rays again, bringing up an image of a skull.  “That’s odd,” she murmurs.  “Jane, do you know if Snow had reconstructive surgery?” she asks me.

“No,” I say.  “No clue.  She seems a bit young for that though, doesn’t she?  Even by Citadel standards.  Why do you ask?”

“Not sure yet,” Char says, turning back to the screen.  “Evidence of rhinoplasty, shaving down of the cheekbones, chin and jaw.”  She moves to Snow’s face.  “Also evidence of lip augmentation.  Hmm.”  She runs her fingers through Snow’s hair, holding the strands that come away up to the light.  “Victim’s hair is dyed,” Char continues.  “Natural colour appears to be light brown.”

“What does this mean?” Bigby asks.

“She had significant alterations done to her appearance,” Char tells him.  “Probably from before Snow came to Omega.  I’m going to undress her now.  You guys might want to step outside.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Bigby snaps.  Ver looks at me and I shrug helplessly.

“I guess we’re staying here then,” he says quietly.

Char shrugs.  “Beginning full examination of remains,” she says into her omnitool.  She carefully undresses the corpse.

“This isn’t what she was wearing yesterday,” Bigby says as Jane catalogues what she sees on the body.

“So she can’t change?” I ask.  “You clearly don’t know rich bitches very well.”

“Jane, not now,” Bigby snaps.

“Why did you ask me here in any case?” I ask.  “I’m not a Cobweb.  I’m not a good person to call if you need backup in a fight.”

“We need information,” Bigby says.  “What happened to Snow.  You can find that.”

“It won’t be easy,” I say.  “The majority of what I get is stuff I overhear Aria or Bray talking about or manage to get off of hacked terminals.”

“Well, expand your business then,” he says.

“Bigby, I need you to look at something,” Char says from the gurney.  She is standing at the corpse’s pelvis, looking at its thighs.

Bigby visibly flinches when he sees that the body is naked, but he crosses the room to stand next to Char.  “What is it?” he asks.

“Track marks,” Char says, pointing at the corpse’s thigh.  “Red sand is normally snorted.  Do you think there’s a new drug on the town?”

“Maybe,” Bigby murmurs.  “This isn’t good.”

“No, it isn’t,” Char says.  She pushes the corpse’s legs apart. 

“Jesus Christ, Char,” Bigby exclaims.

“Right, sorry,” she says.  “Stand back.”

Bigby returns to Ver and I.  “Evidence of penetrative sexual intercourse,” Char continues narrating. 

“Bigby, what do you think happened here?” Ver asks.

“I don’t know, but this is seriously fucked,” Bigby says.

The door to the morgue opens again, and the three of us turn and gape as a voice says, “Garrus said you’d be down here.”

“Occupational markers congruent with prostitution,” Char says, then turns.  “Holy fucking shit,” she says.

“Snow,” Bigby gasps.

The Snow imposter’s eyes fall on the body on the table.  “What the fuck,” she exclaims.

..... 

My family came to Omega from Citadel Space almost seven years ago.  Since then, I have mostly learnt the Terminus language, so familiar and yet so full of nuance that saying something the wrong way was liable to get you killed, I have learnt my way around Gozu, Zeta and my own home district, I know from sight which people to approach and which are better to avoid, and how to barter, haggle and salvage.  I have not yet learned how to stop myself from trying to make myself smaller and insignificant when Bigby is angry. 

Johnny and Charlie have the hotter tempers, fighting everyone that slights them, but those flights of anger seem over almost as soon as they have started. 

Bigby is terrifying when he is angry, no less because he managed to hit the six foot mark at the beginning of the year and is bulky to boot from working the mines for so long, but because he also becomes unpredictable.  Johnny and Charlie are liable to hit you when angry.  Bigby might very well break your neck if you’re not careful.  Fortunately, he seems to generally prefer being sullen than angry, but when his temper comes out, watch out.

He seems beyond angry now.

“You need to fucking explain to me right now what the fuck is going on,” he snaps.

Snow flinches.  “I have no idea,” she whispers.  Her eyes travel to the gurney.  “Who…who is that girl?”

“She’s supposed to be you,” Bigby shouts.

“Bigby,” Char says reproachfully.  He ignores her.

“Where have you been?” he shouts at Snow.

“At the meeting, like I told you yesterday,” she says.  “I went to base yesterday, because I thought of something, and I was told that you were here.  What is going on?”

Bigby runs a large hand over his face.  “Do you have a twin sister?” he snaps.

“No.”

“How about a clone?”

“No,” Snow repeats.

“Then mind explaining to me how the fuck you are lying on that slab?” Bigby shouts again.

“Bigby for fuck sake, if you can’t control yourself, you have to leave,” Char says loudly.  “I think I know what happened, so please just shut up.”

He scowls at her.  “Fine,” he snaps.  “What is this grand theory of yours?”

“Remember I said the victim had reconstructive surgery and dyed hair?” she says. 

“Oh my god, what if she was made to look like Snow,” I exclaim.

“Holy shit, Jane, you’re seriously stealing my thunder,” Char groans.

“I’m right though, aren’t I?” I ask excitedly.  “We have a fake hooker Snow White, motherfucker, this is so cool.”  Four pairs of eyes turn to look incredulously.  “Sorry,” I say sheepishly.

“How do we know this is the real Snow?” Bigby asks, jerking his head in her direction.

“Easy,” Char smiles.  “Snow, have you ever had reconstructive surgery?”

“No,” Snow says. 

“How about dyed your hair?”

“Not recently,” Snow says.  “I had it blue when I was fifteen.  Does that count?”

“Not anymore,” Char says.  “Do you mind if I x-ray your face to confirm this?”

“Of course,” Snow says.

“Happy, Bigby?” Char asks.

“I’ll be happy once we figure this out,” Bigby answers.  “Jane, you have marching orders.  See that it gets done.”

“Not a fan of this barking orders thing, Bigby,” I say.

“Not now, Jane,” he snaps.

I sigh.  “Fine,” I say.  “Ver, walk me home?”

..... 

Pasha greets us with a less-than-enthusiastic goodnight.  “What’s up with her?” I mumble to Ver once we exit the clinic.

“Oh, Bigby stood her up,” Ver says.  “She gave him a right earful about it.  I pretended not to hear obviously.  I don’t feel like being murdered by the wolf.  Not tonight at any rate.”

“Probably wise,” I say.  “So what happened tonight?”

Ver sighs.  “Basically what we said earlier,” he says.  “We went investigating Faith’s last client, the one who beat her up.  We got into a fight with Gren and Aethyta at the Trip Trap.”

I don’t know whether to be alarmed or impressed.  Both Gren and Aethyta had reputations for being ferocious fighters.

“I’m surprised you two are still alive,” I remark.

“We probably would have died, but, well, we were interrupted I guess you could say,” Ver says.  He hesitates.  “By Woody.”

My heart feels cold.  “Axman Woody?” I whisper.

“Yeah,” Ver says heavily.  “He was the client.”

“Of course he was,” I say heavily.  I know Woody well, given that he was the one that led to my best friend taking her own life two years ago.

“I’m sorry,” Ver says quietly.

“Don’t be, snowflake, you aren’t the paedophile here, are you?” I say coldly.

“Right,” Ver says uncomfortably.

We are quiet until we reach my block.  I glance up and see that the lights are on in our windows.  “Crap,” I mumble.  “He’s going to kill me.”

“If you want, I can come up and protect you,” Ver says.  I smile slightly.

“That’s alright, but thanks for the offer,” I say.  “Hey you and Bianca are still coming over on Saturday, right?  I can’t be the twin with absolutely no friends at our party.”

“Yeah of course,” Ver says.  “Is there anything you want though?  We’re trying to decide what gift to get you.”

“No gifts,” I say.  “Just your beautiful presence.”

“Alright then,” he says.  “See you tomorrow?”

“If I can escape, then sure,” I say.  “See you.”

I watch as he starts of in the direction of Tuhi District, and then, with a deep sigh I enter the block and climb the stairs up to our floor.

As I was expecting, Dad is sitting in the living room.  He is not pleased.  “Do you have any idea what time it is?” he says as I pull my jacket and shoes off.

I glance at my omnitool.  “About half past twelve,” I answer.  “Approximately four hours after my curfew, in fact.”

This does not please him.  “Do you mind telling me why you are home four hours after your curfew?” he says, standing up.  His voice rises as he does so.

“Sure,” I say.  “I was at the clinic.  Char needed help.”

“Char was not on duty tonight,” he snaps.  Damn Aria knowing everything that happened on this stupid station.  “Stop lying to me.”

“Honest to God,” I say.  “She was called in.  Some dead hooker in Kima District.”

“Watch your mouth,” he snaps.  He begins pacing.  Our bedroom door opens and a head sticks itself through, sees what is going on and withdraws again.  “You were with those hooligans again, weren’t you?”

“Well, Bigby and Ver were also at the clinic, so yeah,” I say.

My mother comes in from their bedroom and observes us.  “Jane, you are thirteen years old,” Dad says in frustration.  “You need decent sleep, and you can’t just wander Omega on your own.  You know what happens to girls who do that.”

“I’ll be fourteen day after tomorrow,” I point out stubbornly.

“That doesn’t make it better,” Mom speaks for the first time.

“What am I going to do with you?” Dad gripes, still pacing.  “I ground you, you sneak out.  Hitting you makes you worse.  I speak to you, you don’t listen.”

“I know this is a wild thought, but you could just leave me alone,” I suggest.

“Absolutely not,” he snaps.  “You are a child, Jane.”

“Charlie and Char are only a few months older than me and they come and go as they please,” I say.

“Charlie and Char also don’t have parents that care for them,” Mom says quietly.  “We’re only worried about you, love.”

I snort.  “Please, you’re just worried that I’ll die before I can enter that indentured servitude deal you’ve got going with Aria,” I say. 

“Jane Shepard,” my father explodes.

“Anyway, it’s been a long day,” I continue.  “But tomorrow I have to be up early for my gymnastics practice.  Sleep well, Mom.  Dad.”

Dad’s voice follows me as I stride towards the bedroom door.  “You’re grounded, young lady."

“No I’m not,” I reply, before slamming the door behind me.

Jean and Jason are awake (obviously, given that I slammed the door).  Jason is wide-eyed, but Jean seems annoyed.

“Jane, do you really have to be like that?” she asks.

“Jean, the day I want your opinion, I’ll send you a message on your omnitool,” I say, vaulting into my bed.  “Until then, shut up and mind your own business.”

I hear Jean mutter something under her breath as she settles herself into her bed.  Soon the only sound in the room is my siblings’ deep, sleep-filled breathing.  And as usual, I am awake.  I do the usual boring stuff of counting sheep and meditative breathing, but I quickly get bored and stare up at the ceiling.

The flat is in silence.  I debate sneaking out, but know that my father might actually ban me from attending my own birthday party if he were to catch me.

I roll onto my other side, and prepare myself for a long night.

..... 

I manage to catch a little bit of sleep just before Dad wakes us up.  I gulp down some coffee, shower, and then head to the little gym that Aria has set up behind Afterlife. 

Back in the Citadel days, both our parents were in the Alliance Military, Dad as a marine and Mom as a member of the air force.  It was his dream for my sister, brothers and I to follow in their (or specifically his) footsteps and join up when we were old enough.  He had us start training for this once we turned four.  Then, when Jean and I were six, he was caught doing something that he shouldn’t, and, instead of owning up to it and facing the consequences like a man, he decided to flee to the Terminus Systems, where there are no laws and regulations, and only one rule.  Unfortunately, then he decided to get into debt with the wrong Terminus gang, causing him to turn to Aria.  Aria’s response?

“Sure, I’ll make your debt go away, but I now own you, your wife and your children.”

Dad then decided that, if we weren’t going to be the best Alliance Marines the galaxy had ever seen, we could damn well be the best slaves Aria had ever had.  Pardon me, I mean indentured servants.  Aria hates the S word.  But this is why we still training like madmen.

We start the day with a five mile run on the treadmills in the gym, and then a gymnastics training session.  Owing to the fact that the entire Shepard clan is built like fairies in a stupid tale about a flying boy who never gets old, Dad decided that we should do gymnastics to make us more flexible, fluid and faster.  This morning, Jean and I work on the uneven bars (my least favourite discipline) and Jason does some drills on rings.  After this, we have breakfast (low carb high protein), and more coffee.

Char, in a fair amount of the pot calling the kettle black, once told me that it was unhealthy for someone as young as I to drink as much coffee as I do.  I retaliated by telling her that, with the amount I didn’t sleep, not drinking coffee would likely lead to my death.

After breakfast, we run drills, do weights and some light sparring.  As usual, when lunch comes around, I am exhausted.  However, I promised Bigby I would look into the dead Snow White prostitute, so I grab a mug of coffee and a varren-meat salad and sneak out of the gym when the batarian watching over our training’s back is turned. 

The first few people I ask and show Snow’s picture to all say that it’s Snow White, daughter of Leo White (or else, that bitch, Snow White).  Others say that they think she’s working for Archangel.  It’s only when I’m speaking to an elderly, slightly deaf turian man that I get a “Hey, that’s the hooker I saw the other day.”

“Oh yeah?” I say encouragingly.

“Yeah,” he says.  “She dresses like that bitch, Snow White, and charges an arm and a leg.  A weird gimmick, but she always seems to be doing business, so I guess some people want to pay for that.”

“People like you, you mean?” I say suggestively.

“You’re awfully cheeky for such a short human,” the turian says in annoyance.

“I get that a lot,” I say.  “You could say I’m compensating for something.  Why would people want to hire a Snow White prostitute?”

“Well, it’s Snow White, isn’t it?” he says, rather unhelpfully.

“Listen Mr…I really don’t know your name,” I begin.

“It’s Draekus,” he says.

“Don’t care,” I say.  “You’re getting kind of annoying to talk to.  Why would people want to fuck but not fuck Snow White?”  He folds his arms, so I sigh and hold up five cigarettes.  “That do it for you?”

He snatches them from my hand, and they disappear into his voluminous coat.  “You know Snow White at all?” he asks.

“Some,” I say.

“Well, then you should know that she is kind of a bitch,” Draekus says.  “Her dad is one of the richest men in Terminus, and she swans around like she owns the place, not giving a shit about anyone.  Not only that, according to the human on my crew at any rate, she is really hot, in a prudish sort of way.  Lot of guys want to fuck her.  Or beat her.  Or both.  So they can do that with the hooker and not have old man Whites’s dogs of hell chase after you.”

“It must be so tough to be a man on this space station, I really don’t know how you bastards survive it,” I say sarcastically.

“Fair enough,”Draekus says.  “Is there anything else you wanted to know?”

“Do you know the girl’s real name?” I ask.  He shrugs.  “How about who she was hooking for?”

“Your guess is as good as mine,” he answers.  “I picked her up off the streets.  She didn’t have a tag.  Hey, why are you asking all these questions?”

“Because she’s dead, Draekus, and I want to know who killed her,” I say.  I hand him another cigarette.  “Thanks for the info,” I say.  “I should go.”

..... 

I am slightly late for our boxing class after lunch, but thankfully the batarian (I haven’t bothered to learn his name, given that he will probably be replaced in about three days) only makes me do pushups. 

I escape again after the boxing session, jogging up the main causeway towards Gozu.  I dial Bigby’s omnitool.

“What’s up,” he answers.

“You out of work yet?” I ask.

“Just left,” he answers.  “Why do you sound like you’re running?”

“Sorry, I’m still pumped from my workout today,” I say, slowing down.  “Where are you heading?”

“Johnny’s eventually, but he and I are going to pick up some food.”

“Ok, great, I’ll meet you at the Bloodpack stand,” I say.

“Do you want me to fetch you?” he asks.

“Nah, you’ll be late for the Bloodpack,” I say.  “I’ll catch you there.”

“Be careful, Jane,” he warns.

“I’m always careful, but thanks for that, Bigby.”

There’s a sigh and then the line goes dead.  I slow my pace down even more and hunch my head down in between my shoulders.

Ash was the one that had taught me about posture.  “Don’t look healthy, don’t look proud,” she used to repeat.  “No one is happy to be alive on Omega.  If you look like you’re about to break into song, people are going to notice you.  You don’t want to be noticed.  You want to be just another face in the crowd.”

I debate lighting up the last cigarette I have in my pocket, but decide against it.  I don’t know what sort of mood the mercs would be in tonight.

Getting food on Omega is always a challenge, especially if you’re an ordinary citizen.  Aria doesn’t pay my parents (and all her other slaves, she has a lot of them), but she does make sure they don’t starve.  A sick or dead slave isn’t much use to her after all.  However, food is expensive round here, and a lot of people don’t make enough money at the mines (or off of salvage, the most lucrative business on Omega besides joining a gang) to be able to afford protection pay and feeding an entire, generally large, family.

However, fear not, ye hungry masses, for the gangs shall save you whilst ensuring your utter loyalty, by providing a certain amount of nutrient paste, which have enough nutritional value for a single meal, to whoever happened to be at their stalls at the right time.  Given that Johnny lives in Zeta, which is usually under Bloodpack control, we generally approach the Bloodpack stand.

Bigby and Johnny are waiting for me near the Bloodpack stand.  “Hey there Shrimp,” Johnny says.  He is wearing his new glasses and squints slightly as though he is still getting used to them.

“Oh good, it’s been a while since someone has insulted my height,” I say sarcastically.  Johnny rolls his eyes.  “Jesus, you two are a sight for sore eyes,” I say.  “People are going to think you’re part of a fight club.”

“I used to belong to one of those,” Johnny says seriously.

“Somehow I’m not surprised,” I say.

“Bigby hated it though,” he continues.  “Probably because the winner got a round of free drinks at Afterlife, and he couldn’t get any.”

“Shall we queue?” Bigby asks.  “Please.”

We join the queue, which already seems to have at least a hundred people in it.  “Bigby, I have some information that will make you crack a smile for once,” I say.

Two members of the Bloodpack have shown up at the front of the queue and are dolling out nutrient paste tubes. 

“I’ll be the judge of that,” he says.  “What did you learn?”

I explain what Draekus told me.  Predictably, Bigby doesn’t smile (his face will probably crack if he does), but he does frown thoughtfully.  A fight has broken out ahead of us between a batarian and a vorcha over a tube of paste.

“Interesting,” he says.  “Although kind of fucking useless.”

“Excuse me, the fact that there was a prostitute all plastic surgeried to look like Snow White for men (and I guess women) to enact their sadistic fantasies on her is plenty useful,” I say, nettled.

“You don’t know her name, you don’t know who she was hooking for,” Bigby says.  “Those are two things that will help me with identifying her murderer.”

“Aren’t you guys assuming that she’s tricking for the Eclipse?” Johnny asks thoughtfully.  There’s a fair amount of jostling in the crowd as a krogan and a human join the fight.  “Watch it,” I snap as an elbow flies near my face.

“Assumptions are the mother of all fuck ups, Johnny,” Bigby says sagely, pushing a turian out of the way.

“Come on, you have to admit that it’s at least slightly useful,” I say.

“Sure, if you wanted to prove that sentient beings are a blight on the galaxy, then yeah, it’s very useful.”

After more pushing and shoving, we reach the front of the queue.  “Two,” Bigby tells the vorcha.  “One for me and one for my bedridden father.”  The vorcha deposits one tube in Bigby’s outstretched hand.  “The fuck, I asked for two,” he snaps.

“Last one left,” the vorcha says.

“Clear out now,” his (her?) krogan companion orders loudly.

There are loud complaints from everyone behind us.  Bigby pulls a face.  “Fuck it, come on,” he says to us, and we begin pushing our way out of the crowd.

Predictably, another fight breaks out, and we find ourselves having to use slightly excessive force to get through the crowd.  This only disperses when a gunshot rings out and everyone scatters.

We take refuge in a nearby alleyway.  “One,” Bigby says.  “Fucking one.  I know things are bad, but it seems as if they’re only just getting worse.”

I agree with him, but privately I reflect on the possible causes of the Bloodpack’s low supply on their method of control, and how it might relate to the appearance of one vigilante turian.

..... 

The Charlies and Ver are playing cards when we get to Johnny’s flat.  “You were quick,” Char remarks.  Bigby grimly holds up the single tube of nutrient paste, and her face falls.

Charlie sighs.  “Looks like we’re doing this the old fashioned way,” she says.  She gets up and goes to the kitchen, returning with six plastic forks, one of which has its handle snapped in half.

“I guess we go youngest to oldest,” Johnny says.  “Jane?”

“I had varren salad for lunch and an egg wrap for breakfast,” I say.  “Four coffees.”  Charlie discards a fork.

“I had two slices of bread and coffee for lunch,” Char says.  She shrugs.  “Good haul in clinic today.”  Charlie discards another fork.

“Nothing for me,” she says.

“Cereal for breakfast, soup for lunch,” Ver says quietly.  Charlie discards a third fork.

“Bigby?” she asks.

“I can buy myself something tomorrow morning before work,” Bigby says.

“That wasn’t the question,” Charlie says flatly.  “What have you eaten today?”

“Nutrient paste for breakfast,” he says.  “Nothing for lunch.”

“Nothing for me either,” Johnny says.

Charlie hands Char the three leftover forks, who shuffles them behind her back and then holds them out, the handles concealed in her hand.  “Ladies first,” she says.

Charlie picks a fork with a normal handle and pulls a face.  “Go for it, Bigby,” Johnny says.

Bigby picks the fork with the broken handle.  “I don’t want it,” he says at once.

“Well, tough titties,” Charlie says harshly as Char carefully gathers the forks and returns them to the kitchen.  Bigby tosses the tube at Charlie and it hits the side of her face.  “Motherfucker, I will seriously cut you,” she snaps.

“You haven’t eaten yet today,” he says.  “I have.  I don’t want it.”

“That’s not how it works and you know it,” Charlie says angrily.  She throws the tube back at him.  “Eat the motherfucking thing and shut the fuck up, Bigby.”

“Johnny,” Bigby begins.

“Uh uh,” Johnny says.  “You got that fair and square.  I’m not taking it from you just so you don’t feel guilty.”

“But-,” Bigby begins.

“Bigby,” Char says quietly and we all turn to look at her.  “Trust the system,” she says.  “That’s why we have it.  The moment you start undermining it, we lose what keeps us together.”

Bigby sighs, picks up the tube, bites the cap off and tips its contents into his mouth.  Ver throws me an uncomfortable look.  We both have dinners waiting for us at home.  Meanwhile, Charlie, Char and Johnny would go to bed with nothing in their bellies, and would in likelihood only eat again tomorrow night.

“Come on,” I say with forced cheer.  “Let’s play cards.”

..... 

I manage to get home before curfew for once (honestly, the mood in Johnny’s flat is very sour, with Bigby leaving after one round of cards, and Char going to bed soon after).  My parents seem to be in their bedroom, so I call out a greeting as I grab some leftover dinner from the fridge and go through to our bedroom.

Jean is sitting on her bed, reading something on a datapad.  “Hey,” I say, climbing up to my bed.

“Hey,” she responds.

“Where’s Jason?”

“Sleeping over at a friend’s,” she answers.  “He’ll be back tomorrow before the party.”

I grunt, and start eating.  I am not looking forward to the party, mainly because Jean’s annoying friends from Tuhi are going to be there.

Jean seems to be reading my mind (twin thing I guess), because she asks if I am looking forward to the party.

“Not really,” I say.

“How come?” she asks.

“Because it’s unfair that your hoity toity friends are going to be there, and mine aren’t allowed within three feet of our block,” I say.

“Varric’s going to be there,” she points out.

“Ver is one of my friends,” I say.  “I have four others.”

“Well, they are kind of…” her voice trails off.

“Oh do continue, Jeanie,” I say.

“Well, unrefined,” Jean says.

“You were going to say they’re criminals and gangster-wannabes,” I say.

“Would I be wrong though?” Jean asks.

“No, but that doesn’t change the fact that they’re my friends,” I say.  “And I’m not allowed to have them over, whilst Bletcher, Fletcher and Gaslight are allowed here whenever they want.”

“That’s not their names and you know it, Jane,” Jean says, affronted.

“Might as well be,” I say.  “You all don’t want to accept the fact that my life changed significantly two years ago, and it was Bigby, Char and Johnny who made sure that what happened didn’t go unnoticed.”

“Right,” Jean says.  “And they still steal from people who can’t necessarily afford to be stolen from.  You know, I heard Dad talking that Johnny assaulted five separate people the other day.”

“Johnny lost his sister,” I say.

“And that makes it ok?” she asks.  “Face it Jane, the only difference between them and the gangs is that your friends don’t have tags.”

“No, you face it,” I say.  “There is not a single person on this space station who hasn’t done something morally questionable, your pals Butcher, Baker and Candlestick Maker included.  Furthermore, given what he did, Dad is the literal last person to be passing down judgement.”

“Will you let it go, it was before we were born,” Jean snaps.

“That’s not the point,” I snap back.  “Out here it’s eat or be eaten, and we’re the right size to be a really tasty appetiser.  If I had to take a moral high ground on who I will and won’t associate with, I might as well shoot myself in the face and save everyone else the bother.”

There’s a knock on the door, and Mom sticks her head around it.  “Bed time, almost birthday girls,” she says cheerily.  She takes my plate, kisses each of us on the forehead and shuts the light off.

“You still need to draw the line somewhere,” Jean whispers once Mom has left.

“Jesus, shut the fuck up and go to sleep,” I sigh.

..... 

I fall asleep fairly quickly for a change, but am plagued by bad dreams.  First I dream that I am lost on Omega, and every time I try to ask someone for directions, they answer me in a language that I don’t understand.  Twice, someone grabs me by the face, not in an aggressive way, but more as a blind person trying to figure my features out.  Eventually, after what feels like hours of wandering around, I wake up.

I lie awake for a while, before drifting back into sleep.  I am on Omega again, but this time it is entirely empty.  All I hear is the voice of a girl calling me.  As fast as I run after her, I don’t catch sight of her.  Finally, I run around a corner and straight into Bigby.  He grabs me by the top of the arms, and speaks in a voice far deeper than it is in real life.

“Hey there little girl, are you lost?”

I wake up again, my heart pounding.  I stare up at the ceiling, gulping air until my heart rate finally slows down.  “Fuck my life,” I whisper, and glance at my omnitool.  It’s one in the morning.  Happy birthday to me.

I don’t fall asleep again.

..... 

At six, Dad comes in to wake us.  It may be our birthdays, but God forbid we take a day off for training.  After Mom and Dad sing happy birthday, Jean and I go to the gym to run five miles and do some weight training. 

Back at our block, Dad is setting up the barbecue, whistling as he goes.  “Stay out of Mom and my bedroom, kids,” he calls as we pass by.

“You got it,” we both say.

I win the brief wrestling match in our bedroom, which means that I get to shower first.  After I have dressed and done my hair, I go downstairs again. 

The first thing I see is that my oldest brother, John, has arrived from his stint on Hahne-Kadar.  He smiles when he sees me and pulls me into a hug.  “Happy birthday, Titch,” he says, kissing the top of my head.

“Thanks,” I grin.  “How are you?”

He shrugs.  “Can’t complain,” he says.  He looks me up and down.  “You’re looking good,” he says.  “Grown a bit.”

I snort.  “You haven’t,” I say.

“Now that just hurts my stone cold heart, little sis,” he says.

“Please,” I say.  “You don’t have a heart.”

Jean joins us a while later.  Bray has shown up, along with a few of Mom and Dad’s friends from work, I mean enslavement.  I always liked Bray.  He used to supervise our training sessions until he got promoted to be Aria’s deputy.  He’s generally quiet, following Aria without a fault, but he has never treated us badly.  In fact, he usually turned a blind eye when we didn’t feel like training.

Jean’s friends show up, followed by Ver and Bianca.  I don’t particularly like Bianca (no one does), but she is Ver’s girlfriend, and will make my side of the table look a little fuller.

“Happy birthday, Jane,” Ver says, kissing me on the cheek.

“Thanks,” I say.  “Hey Bianca.”

She fake hugs me.  “Many happy returns, Jane,” she says, kissing the air next to each cheek.

“Thanks,” I say.  “Come on guys.  Join the party.”  Of hell.

Bianca immediately gets dragged over to Jean and the Three Horsemen of the Apocalypse.  “You ok?” Ver asks me in an undertone.

“My dad really needs to bring the cake out,” I reply.  “I haven’t had chocolate since my last birthday.  Terminus sucks.”

“Be honest, you probably wouldn’t be allowed chocolate even if you were in the Citadel,” Ver says.

“No probably not,” I sigh.

“Hey I got you a gift,” Ver says after a pause.

“You didn’t need to get me a gift,” I say.

“Just…shut up,” he says.  He hands me a datapad.

“I already have a datapad,” I say.

“You know, this is why everyone hates you,” he says.

“Meanwhile everyone hates you because you go around giving datapads that are out-dated by two years,” I say, unlocking the datapad. 

There is only one document on it, and it entitled _SFX._   “What is this?” I ask, opening it.

“It’s your story,” Ver says.  “Or it would be, if you hadn’t left Citadel.  I’ve been working on it for months.”

“Holy shit, you killed off my squad in the first paragraph?” I ask, reading it.

“I felt it was for the best,” he says.

I hug him.  “I can’t wait to read it,” I say.  “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome,” Ver answers.  “I’m pretty sure you would have been a great marine.”

“Jane, come on,” Jean calls.

I sigh.  “I guess we should join the party,” I say.

..... 

Later, we open our gifts.  Our grandparents have sent us each half a million credits, which I immediately bank to earn interest (the joys of being an Alliance resident).  Jean and I each receive a book from John.  Jean’s is something to do with the history of the Alliance (part fifty seven no doubt) and I get one on raising pigs.

“Uh, thanks, John,” I say uncertainly.

“No problem,” he responds.  “I thought it might come in handy.”

The next gifts come in boxes, from inside which scuffling noises are coming.  “Why do I have a bad feeling about this?” Jean murmurs to me.  Our parents have a history of strange choices when it comes to gifts. 

“You’re the oldest, you might as well go first,” I say, nudging Jean. 

She sighs, ups the lid of the box labelled with her name and jumps back.  Nothing happens, and she cautiously peers into the box.

“Oh,” she sighs.  “Is he for me?”

He?  “He is,” Dad answers.

Jean throws her arms around him and then hugs Mom.  “Thanks so much,” she says.  “He’s perfect.”

“Ok, are you going to tell us what the fuck ‘he’ is?” I ask impatiently.

“Language, Jane,” Dad says absently.  I roll my eyes.

“Seriously, Jeanie, don’t leave us in suspense,” Jason says.

Jean lifts a cage out of the box, inside of which is a small, brown hamster.  “Where did you get that?” I ask in surprise.  Animals that aren’t rats, roaches or varren don’t really exist on Omega.

“Let’s not worry about that right now,” Dad says.  “Your turn, Jane.”

I up the lid, expecting another cage.  Instead, I am confronted by floppy ears, big brown eyes and a snout.

“Oh my God,” I whisper, feeling choked up.

“Don’t blaspheme, Jane,” Dad says.

I lift the piglet out.  “He’s perfect,” I say quietly.  The piglet squeals and squirms a bit in my hands, but doesn’t make too much of a fuss.

“Why does Jane get a pig and I get a hamster?” Jean asks, unimpressed.

“Just a minute ago you were saying that your miniature rat was perfect, now you’re complaining because he’s kosher?” I ask.  “Seriously, leave Swineheart alone.  He’s mine and I will murder anyone who tries to take him away from me.”

“You’re naming your pet pig Swineheart?” Jean asks.

“Yeah, he’s a swine, he has a heart, why wouldn’t I?” I ask.  “It’s probably better than whatever name you’ve come up with for that rodent you’re touting.”

“What, you mean Boo?” Jean asks.

“I rest my case,” I say.  “Can we eat please?  I’m starving.”

Before this however, Dad gives us a speech on caring responsibly for our new pets, or else they’d be taken away from us.  He also manages to imply that, should I put a toe out of line again, Swineheart would be kaput.

“Wasn’t Swineheart a character in a Grimm fairy tale?” Ver asks as we queue for burgers.

“You’re such a fucking nerd, Ver, and I love you for it,” I mumble.

Unfortunately, Dad overheard.  Grabbing me by one arm, he drags me to one side.  “One more vulgarity, Jane, and you’re spending the rest of the day upstairs,” he hisses to me.

“Jeez, chill Dad,” I say, pulling myself free.  “You’re scaring the pig.”  He rolls his eyes but permits me to return to the party.

There is bacon on the burgers.  “Isn’t it a little insensitive to be eating that in front of him?” Ver asks, nodding at Swineheart, who is asleep on my lap. 

“He’s a baby, he doesn’t know any better,” I say.

Bray sits down on my other side.  “What would you call that animal?” he asks.

“It’s a pig,” I say.  “See the fatty meat on the burger?”

“Yes?” he asks.

“That’s essentially what Swineheart is made up of,” I say.  “Five pounds of pure deliciousness.”

“I don’t think you’re ready to take responsibility of another life yet, Jane,” Ver says uneasily.

“Oh lighten up you,” I say.

“You know I suck at that,” he grins.  Bianca distracts him with a request for him to feed her fries or something equally inane, and I use this opportunity to turn to Bray.

“Hey can I ask you something,” I say. 

He swallows his mouthful of burger.  “Burghat is better than this,” he informs me.

“I have no doubt that you’re wrong,” I say.  “Cheese burgers are God’s food.  That isn’t blasphemy,” I say when Dad gives me a look.

I pull up the picture of dead hooker Snow on my omnitool.  “Know who this is?” I ask Bray.

“Sure, Leo White’s daughter,” Bray says.  “Is she dead?”

“Not her,” I say.  “You know anything of a prostitute made to look like Leo White’s daughter?”

Bray casts a glance at Dad, but he’s in conversation with Bletcher (or Fletcher, it’s hard to tell).  “Is she dead?” he whispers.

“Yeah,” I reply quietly.  “Who is she?”

“Why do you want to know?” Bray asks.

“School project,” I reply.  “Famous dead prostitutes of the twenty second century.”   He raises an eyebrow (I think, it’s hard to tell with batarians, given that they have more eyes but less eyebrows than humans).  “Come on, Bray, help a girl out,” I say.  “It’s information I’m gathering for a friend.”

“I hope these friends are as good to you as you are to them,” he says.

“Sure,” I say.  “Who’s the girl?”

“Her name is Lily and she comes from Gozu,” he says.  “Ran the Trip Trap with Aethyta and Gren.”

“Do you know who she was hooking for?” I ask.  He shrugs.

“Aria would, but I don’t plan on asking her,” he says.

“Ok,” I say.  “Thanks.”

We cut the cake after we’ve finished eating burgers.  After this, I take my father to one side.  “Look, I know you don’t like them, but Bigby, Char, Johnny and Charlie are my friends,” I say quietly to them.  “It would mean a lot if I could spend some time with them.”

“Not whilst Aria’s men are here,” he says.

This I sort of understand.  We don’t really have a lot of leeway with Aria, and if she thinks we’re mixing with undesirables (which, let’s face it, Johnny, Charlie and Bigby practically are), we could land in trouble.

“Fine,” I say.  “Can I go to them then?”

There is something odd in my father’s face, as he looks me over.  “Are you alright, Janey?” he asks quietly.

My ponytail is hurting.  I take a deep breath and lie.  “Yes.”

He doesn’t believe me.  He reaches out to touch my cheek and I flinch.  He drops it again.  “Ok,” he says.  “Be careful.”

I feel bad so I hug him tightly.  “I’m proud of you, my sweet daughter,” he whispers.

..... 

Ver decides to come with me to Bigby’s place.  After a brief verbal sparring match, Bianca decides to go home with Blegh, Huh and Ew.  I pack up some cake and leftovers from the barbecue, and we make our way together to Bigby, Swineheart walking beside me on the leash Mom and Dad had given me.

“So, excited to be fourteen?” Ver asks as we walk.

“Not really,” I reply.  He raises an eyebrow.  “Ash never got to be fourteen,” I explain.  I often think about her, frozen forever at thirteen.  I’m probably the only person in the galaxy who misses her.

Ver doesn’t say anything, which I appreciate.  Back when I first started running with Bigby’s crew, I was so intimidated I barely said anything (hard to believe, I know).  I gained my confidence somewhat after the first few months, and when Ver joined us a year later, I recognised the same fear in him.  Being the odd one out when the majority grew up in violence is really tough, and we bonded over this.

The others have started a fire out on Bigby’s balcony when we get there, over which Char is cooking something spicy.  “Ey, it’s the birthday girl,” Johnny cries when we walk through the door.

Char hugs me.  “Happy birthday,” she whispers in my ear.

Bigby hugs me next, then Aisha.  “What the fuck is that?” Charlie asks, her eyes on Swineheart. 

“It’s a teacup pig by the name of Swineheart, Charlie, but thanks for asking,” I reply.

“Swineheart?” Char asks, raising an eyebrow.

“What?” I ask.  “It fits.”

“Right, sure it does,” Char says rolling her eyes.

“Wait, hold the fucking phone, why the fuck do you have a teacup…pig?” Johnny asks.  “I don’t even know what the fuck that is.”

“You remember that story I read you a long-ass time ago about a talking spider living on a farm?” Char asks.

“Sure,” Johnny says.  “I had nightmares for weeks.”

“Right,” Char says.  “Remember Wilbur, the main character?”  He nods.  “That’s a pig.  This is just a smaller version.”

Johnny crouches down and examines Swineheart more closely.  “Wild,” he declares at last.

“Anyway,” I say.  “We come bearing cake and burgers.  Who wants?”

There’s a mad scramble as the cake and burgers are dealt out.  After this, we end up playing cards on Bigby’s brand new single bed mattress.

“I also have a toilet installed,” he tells us excitedly. 

“Perfect for Johnny, since he’s already full of shit,” I quip.

“Now Jane, it may be your birthday, but I can still beat the living crap out of you,” Johnny says idly. 

I snort.  “You can try, but I took down my batarian trainer the other day with minimum sweat,” I say.

“Impressive, but I’ve taken down a krogan, which even old Wolfy here,” he nudges Bigby, “Was unable to do.”

“Yeah, but I came pretty fucking close,” Bigby says.

“Close is not a victory, Bigby,” Charlie says.  “Let’s show ‘em.”

Johnny wins, as he always does.  “I am the king of gambling,” he boasts.

“Fair, since I get half your winnings in any case,” Aisha says.

Johnny snorts.  “Under old timey Alliance law, it’s more like a quarter of what I get,” he says.

“On the note of fighting krogan, have you found anything out, Jane?” Bigby asks, shuffling the cards.

“Yeah, I-,” I begin.

There is a knock on the door, and we all freeze.  “Shit,” Bigby swears.

“You’re going to need to answer that, buddy,” Ver says.

“Yeah,” Bigby says.  “Whatever you guys do, just shut up.  This is not going to end well.”

He gets up and opens the door.  On the other side are a krogan and a vorcha dressed in Bloodpack gear.  Clearly they are here to collect their protection money.

“Time to pay up,” the vorcha says at once.

“Void, Skree, we’ve talked about this,” the krogan says.  “Be subtle.  Don’t say it right out of the gate.”

“I can help you fellas along,” Bigby says.  “I don’t have the creds.”

“Now we kill you,” Skree, well, screeches. 

“Hold on just one fucking second,” Johnny says.

“Skree, holy fucking shit,” the krogan says.  He looks at Bigby.  “I guess you know what this fucking means,” he says.

“Yeah, guess I do,” Bigby replies.

“I have creds,” Ver pipes.

“Shut the fuck up,” Bigby snaps at him.  He turns back to the Bloodpack pair.  “Go ahead,” he invites. 

“Your face looks like shit,” the krogan remarks as they step into the flat.

“Yeah, I got into a fight with another of you motherfuckers.”

This earns him a punch to the stomach.  The krogan and Skree survey the flat.  “The mattress,” the krogan declares at last.

“Ah Jesus Christ guys, I only just bought that,” Bigby complains through gasps.

“Shut the fuck up,” the krogan snaps.

We are all shooed off of the mattress, and the krogan hefts it over his shoulder.  Skree punches Bigby again.

“Don’t forget,” he says.

“Yo asshole,” Johnny says and punches him hard in the face.  “That’s my fucking cousin you’re beating on,” he snaps.

Next thing both the krogan and Skree are pointing their shotguns at us.  “Ok, hold up,” Ver says calmly as the rest of us raise our hands.  “This doesn’t need to go this way.”

“Give me one good reason, human,” the krogan snaps.

He points at me.  “Her dad works for Aria,” he says.  “Jordan Shepard.  You don’t want to go pissing Aria off, do you?”

“It’s true,” I say, making my Citadel accent as thick as possible.

The krogan looks from me to Ver, who gives a very convincing shit-eating smile.  “Shit,” the krogan says.  “Come on Skree.  Don’t forget the money ever again, human, or I will rip you from limb to limb.”

“No fear,” Bigby mumbles as the door slams behind them.  “Johnny, seriously, would it kill you to shut up?”

“How did you not have the money, Bigby?” Charlie asks.

“I forgot, ok?” he growls in frustration. 

“How the fuck do you forget?” I ask in amazement.  “Your parents have been paying the Blue Suns since before you were alive.”

“It’s been a long week,” he sighs.  “Come on, let’s play another round.”

..... 

Later, Bigby and I find ourselves sharing a cigarette on the balcony.  “You have a good birthday?” he asks me.

“Aside from the obviously missing faces, yeah,” I say.  “And I have a pet pig, which I think is pretty badass.”

By the way, Charlie has adopted Swineheart as her own.  He is sleeping on her lap.

“Well, even though it’s through shitty circumstances, I’m glad you’re spending part of it with us,” Bigby says.

I smile.  “Thanks for that, I guess,” I say.  “Oh, I haven’t told you what I learnt about your dead Snow White ringer.”

“No, you haven’t,” he agrees.  I briefly tell him what I learnt from Bray.  “Well, I guess we found Aethyta’s sister,” he says grimly.

“Yup,” I say.  “Are you going to tell her?”

“I don’t have any choice if I want to get more information about this…Lily,” he says. 

“Can I come with?” I ask

“Seriously?” he asks.  I shrug.

“I guess,” he replies uncertainly.  “You’re a better fighter than Ver is at any rate.”

“Thanks for that,” I say.

He shrugs.  “Don’t get too excited, it’s barely an endorsement,” he says.

“I don’t know what else I can do to prove to your guys that I am a good fighter,” I say.

“Maybe stop boasting about it every five seconds,” he suggests.

“Right,” I say.

“Oh, and, fair warning I guess, but Woody might be there,” he says.  I supress a shiver.  “You don’t have to come with,” he says.

“I’ll be fine,” I say, more shortly than I intend.

“Jane,” he begins.

“I can handle it,” I snap.

“Ok then,” he says.  “Meet me at the clinic at five?”

“You got it,” I say.

..... 

I get to the clinic slightly early, but Pasha tells me that he is talking to Char in the staff room.  “Hey, Jane, can I ask you something?” she asks.

“Sure,” I say.

“Does Bigby ever…you know, mention me?” she asks, seeming shy.

I hesitate.  “Why do you ask?” I stall.

“Well, I’m just not sure if he takes me seriously,” she says.  “If he talks about me to his family, it’d mean that I matter to him.”

I sigh.  “Ok, lookit, Pasha,” I say.  “You are how old?”

“Two hundred and seventy,” she says.

“Right,” I say.  “Bigby is only recently sixteen.  He was fourteen when you two started this bootycall whatsit.  Doesn’t that tell you anything?”

“Um…”

“Jesus wake up and smell the fucking eezo woman,” I say.  “He’s too young for you.  Back in Citadel space, you could be prosecuted for statutory rape.  It’s not right what you’re doing.  Furthermore, the only reason he’s even giving you the time of day is because he’s using you to distract himself from the fact that he has feelings for someone else.”  Immediately, I regret my outburst.

“Who does he have feelings for?” Pasha asks at once.

Big mouth, Shepard, I curse myself internally.  “Not your business, is it?” I snap.

“Right,” Pasha mumbles.  She glances down at Swineheart.  “What is that?” she asks.

“A teacup piglet,” I say.  “They’re in the staffroom, you said?”

She nods.  Without another word, I turn on my heel and head in that direction, Swineheart trotting along behind me.

Char is busy drinking a cup of coffee whilst Bigby massages her shoulders when I go into the staffroom.  “Hey guys,” I say.  “This is intimate.”

“I was in surgery all morning and my back is killing me,” Char explains.  “By the way, pigs aren’t allowed in the clinic.”

“Excuse me, but that is not on any of the signs in the waiting room,” I say, affronted.

“It’s implied,” Char says.  “Besides, would a pig be allowed into a Citadel hospital?”

“I don’t know, they might have changed the rules since I was last there,” I say.  “Are you ready, Bigby?”

“Are you sure you’re up to this?” he asks me.

“Holy shit, can we just fucking do it already?” I snap.

He almost grins, lifting his hands from Char’s shoulders.  “Damnit,” she whines.  “Guess I have to get back to work.”

“Life’s a bitch,” I say.

“No, you are,” she says.  “Be careful.  Don’t fight any krogan.”

“Can’t promise that one,” I say.

..... 

Pasha gives us a lukewarm farewell as we leave the clinic.  “Hey, Jane, you’re a woman,” Bigby says as we walk down an alley towards the Trip Trap.

“Technically yes, but I am still underage according to most laws in Citadel Space,” I say.  “Why do you ask?”

“Well, there’s this chick that I like,” he begins.

“Chick is kind of offensive, Bigby,” I say.

He presses his lips together.  “Fine,” he says.  “There’s this girl I like, but I don’t think she likes me.  Speaking from the female perspective, how would I go about handling this?”

“How much do you like her?” I ask.

“A whole lot,” he says.

“Would it crush your world if she rejected you?”

“Probably,” he answers.

“Great,” I say.  “Don’t tell her.  You don’t deserve that heartache.”

“That isn’t very helpful, Jane,” he says, frowning.

“I’m not here to be helpful, Bigby,” I reply.  “We’re here.”

“Alright,” he says.  “Just stay cool, ok?”

“Hey, when am I not cool?” I ask, grinning.

He scowls.  “Just…for fucks sakes, just stay cool,” he repeats.

“You got it, Bigby.”

..... 

There are only three people inside the bar, including the barwoman.  The other is a krogan, who I assume is Gren.  The third is a teenager slash young adult who I don’t recognise.  Despite the early hour, the tension in the room is palpable.

“Jack, I really don’t know where they are,” Aethyta is saying. 

“You’re a bar,” the young adult, whose name inconceivably seems to be Jack, says.  “You’re supposed to have fucking darts.”

“And I normally do,” Aethyta says.  “But who knows where the fuck they went after…” her voice trails off when she notices us.

“Urgh seriously Aethyta, I need fucking entertainment,” Jack says.  Her back is to us, and she clearly hasn’t realised what is going on.  “Else I might rip a singularity up in this joint and see what happens.”  She finally turns and sees us.  “Never mind,” she says.  “This will do.”

Bigby groans.  “Fucking perfect,” he says.

“You two know each other?” I ask.

“She’s in the same team as me at the mines,” he tells me.  “She hates me.  I hate her.  It’s a perfect mashup.”

Gren gives Aethyta a look, who immediately starts packing all her drinks and glasses under the bar.

“You guys can chill,” Bigby says.  “We’re not here to start anything.”

“Ok,” Aethyta says, clearly not chilling.

Jack’s eyes zero on me.  “Well, if it isn’t little Miss Shepard,” she says.  “Suck any dicks lately?”

“Hahahaha you’re so funny I can’t believe you made such an original joke,” I say boredly.

“Fair enough,” she says.  “What the fuck is that?”

“Killer pig,” I say.

Jack approaches Bigby and grabs him by the bicep.  “Seriously, every time I see you, dude, you’ve dropped a few pounds,” she says.  “Haven’t you assholes noticed?  He loses the fat but keeps the muscles.  Amazing.”

Bigby’s expression is murderous.  He tends to avoid hitting women if he can, but I know that he is seriously contemplating attacking Jack.

“Wolfie my dear,” Jack continues dramatically.  “How I’ve missed you.  We always seem to be on different shifts these days.  Almost like you’re avoiding me.”

Bigby’s hands curl into fists.  He takes a deep breath and pulls himself free of Jack, approaching the bar.  Aethyta watches him, a slight crease on her otherwise-perfect forehead.

Jack is clearly not done being an annoying pain in the butt.  “You know, Bigby, we were just talking about you and the fact that you seem to have joined what is clearly the losing team.”

“Honestly, why the heck do upstanding citizens such as Aethyta and Gren allow bitches like you join their crew?” I say irritably.

“Funny, I could say the same about Massani and Santiago’s kids allowing little shits like you in,” is the witty response.

“Both of you, shut the fuck up,” Bigby snaps.

“Well, anyway, we’re dying to hear about the dead hooker that was found in Kima the other day,” Jack says, not shutting the fuck up.

Bigby raises an eyebrow.  “Is that common knowledge up here in Gozu?” he asks delicately.

“Dee was just in here,” Gren grunts.

“Oh yeah?” Bigby asks.

“He said the girl looked just like that whore Snow White,” Jack says, shrugging.

“Dee was talkative,” Bigby says.

“Yeah, well, he also was plenty complimentary about you, big boy,” Jack says.  “Hey, do you reckon-?”

“Jack, find the off button,” Aethyta snaps.

“What the fuck is up with you two?” Jack asks.  “Seriously, I would have more fun with Woody right now and he’s so fucking mopey.”

“What’s up?” Aethyta asks incredulously.  “What’s up is that I’m fucking tired.”

“Tired of what?” Jack scoffs.

“Of everything,” she snaps.  “Of Omega, of Gozu, of you not giving us any rest.  So for the love of Goddess, just sit down and shut up.  If you can’t do that, wait outside or fuck off back to whatever hole you were spawned in.”

“Alright, both of you shut up and listen,” Bigby snaps. 

“Seriously though, if you’re running for Archangel, you think you can do something about our sister?” Jack asks, leaning towards Bigby.  “She’s been missing for over a year now.  Aethyta went to that bitch Snow White about it, but she didn’t do shit.  Big surprise, I suppose.”

“Right,” Bigby says.  “About that.  The girl that was found in Kima…that was Lily.”

Jack immediately backs away, her face momentarily blank with shock.  Aethyta grips the bar tightly and there’s a loud splintering sound as Gren crushes the glass he’s holding in his fist.

“You’re sure?” Aethyta whispers.

“You provided Snow with some medical details about Lily, which the Cobwebs down at the clinic were able to use to confirm it,” Bigby explains.

“But she looked like Snow White,” Gren says hoarsely.

“Yeah,” Bigby says.  “She underwent significant plastic surgery to be made to look like Snow.”

Jack sighs heavily.  “Boy, I sure walked into that one,” she says regretfully. 

“If you say one more fucking thing,” Gren says through gritted teeth.

Jack bites her lip before turning and leaving the bar.

Gren gets to his feet, anger radiating from him.  “Of fucking course the fucking princess, Snow White is all fucking safe and sound,” he bellows (Swineheart gives a loud squeak).  “Where was Archangel when we needed him?  He says he’s here to protect us, but where was he when Lily needed him?  If he really gave a shit, she might have been saved from all of this.”

“Shut up,” Aethyta says in a choked voice.  “Just…Gren, please not now.”

Gren backs away from us again.  “I’m sorry,” Bigby says quietly.

The bar is silent.  “Why her?” Aethyta asks at last, her voice so old and so tired.  “Why did it have to be her?  She didn’t deserve this.”

“I don’t know,” Bigby says.  “But I want to find out.”

Aethyta gives a shuddering sigh.  “Gren,” she says.  “Take off for a bit, would you?”

“Are you sure, Aethyta?” he asks.  She nods once.  He casts her once last look before lumbering out of the door.

Aethyta pours herself a drink, and comes to sit on the other side of the bar.  She indicates for us to sit next to her.  “She was nineteen years old,” she says quietly, taking a sip of the drink.  “Gozu born and bred.  Had a fucked up childhood from what I understand.  Everyone on this piece of shit station had a fucked up childhood.  She joined Gren and my crew when she was fifteen.  She was sort of like everyone’s little sister.  We all loved her.  She left home later that year, staying on Woody’s couch until she could get a place of her own.  But she was mixed up in some bad shit.  Drugs.  She got into debt with the wrong people and started tricking to pay it off.”

“Do you know who she was hooking for?” Bigby asks.

“The Eclipse,” Aethyta says.  “Sons of bitches.  They have a brothel up in Carrd District.”

“Is it the one run by Georgie?” Bigby asks.

“That’s the one,” Aethyta says.  There is another pause.  “I suppose I need to go up to the clinic to fetch the body, huh?”

“The clinic usually handles destroying bodies,” I say.  “They’ll let you know when the burning will take place.”

Aethyta nods.  “Thanks,” she says.

“Will you be ok?” Bigby asks.

“Yeah, the others will be back soon,” she says.  “Thanks Bigby.”

..... 

Together we leave the bar.  “So, feeling up for a trip to Carrd?” Bigby asks me.

“To the brothel?” I ask.  He nods.  “Could be interesting,” I say.  “Or disturbing.”

“What time’s your curfew?” Bigby asks once we have crossed into Carrd District.

“Not for a few hours yet,” I answer.

There is honestly not much difference between the districts once you get down to it.  Omega is shitly built no matter where you are, out of prefab materials that are mostly rotting and falling down if you aren’t in Tuhi District.  The differences mainly lie in which gang happens to be controlling the district at the time.  Survival on Omega requires one to be able to tell the difference between the five gangs, the main player of course being the Blue Suns, which controls Gozu District (the biggest district on Omega) and Tuhi District (the richest part of Omega), and the smallest gang being the Talons, who barely manage to hold on to Fumi District at the best of times.  The Eclipse and the Bloodpack both vie for the position of second-largest gang, with the Bloodpack probably making the most convincing argument for being successor to the Blue Suns, should they eventually be toppled.  The Brotherhood (the fifth and potentially most boring gang) tend to not get involved in any kind of gang warfare, seeming only interested in holding on to Kenzo District and driving the monster trucks around in the pit.  Occasionally, the Suns make a half-hearted move on Kenzo, but are pretty convincingly pushed back.  No one really bothers with the Brotherhood because they don’t make any effort to expand their territory, and also because Kenzo is the smallest district on the station.

Outside the brothel, we are greeted by a scantily-clad asari.  “My, you’re awfully tall,” she says, eyeing Bigby.  “And your friend is very young.”  She pauses.  “What is that?” she asks.

“My bodyguard,” I say.  Swineheart emphasises this by giving a loud squeak.

“Now, my name is Morinth,” she continues after giving me a strange look.  “How can I help you two?”

“We’re here to see Georgie,” Bigby says.

“He doesn’t usually see people,” Morinth says.  “You have to make an appointment with him.”

“We’re friends of his,” I say.  I give a winning smile. 

She looks me up and down.  “Uh huh, sure,” she says.  “You’re in luck.  He’s here.”  She hesitates.  “I should probably warn you,” she says slowly.  “Georgie doesn’t like to be disturbed, especially when he’s alone.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine,” Bigby says.  “I have a way with people.”  I turn a derisive snort into a hacking cough, and he glares at me.

Morinth opens the door and indicates for us to follow her into the brothel.

It is still fairly early in the evening so the place is deserted.  Having never been to a brothel before, I have nothing to compare it to, but it seems the place is as seedy as one would expect from a brothel.  Morinth leads us down the corridor and into a lounge which is full of stripper poles, all of which are empty except for one, where a bear-chested girl is dancing to loud music.

A man I presume to be Georgie is sitting in the couch in front of it.

“You look like you’re trying to take a shit,” he shouts at the girl, who flushes and dances even more jerkily.

“Who’s going to want that?” Georgie continues to bellow.  “No one, that’s who.”

Bigby growled something under his breath.  “I can take it from here,” he tells Morinth, who smirks.

“Good luck,” she says.

Bigby and I walk up behind Georgie.  “It’s your face,” Georgie shouts, not noticing us.  “You got to smile.  You don’t smile.”  Bigby clears his throat loudly, and receives a glare from Georgie.  “What the fuck do you want?” he snaps.  “Never mind, we’re closed.”

“Right, because I’m really in the mood to fuck underage girls,” Bigby snaps.

“She’s eighteen, padre, the younger girls only come on later,” Georgie says sarcastically (I hope, although I doubt it).

“Well isn’t that a relief,” Bigby says, equally sarcastically.  “I’m not here for a girl.”

“For fucks sake,” Georgie groans.  He presses a button on his omnitool, shutting the music off.  “You,” he says to the girl.  “We’re not finished here yet.”  He turns back to us.  “Why the fuck are you here if it isn’t for a girl?  Is it the chips?  Seems like you brought your own girl.”

“You do chips?” I ask.

“Best on Omega,” he answers.

“I’ll be the judge of that,” I respond.

“I’ll have chef whip some up for you, that suit you?” Georgie asks.

“Jane,” Bigby says.  “Focus.  Please.”

“Aye Jane, focus please,” Georgie imitates Bigby.  “You’re so corny boy.  I love it.  No seriously.  I love it.”  Bigby scowls.  “Alright I’m fucking with you.  I know why you’re here.”

“You do?” Bigby asks in genuine surprise.

“Well, let’s just say, when shit happens, I hear about it,” Georgie leans forward.  “Especially when it concerns my livelihood.”

“In that case, you might be able to explain to me why Lily received plastic surgery to make her look like Snow White,” Bigby says.

“Because a lot of people want to pay a lot to fuck Snow White,” Georgie shrugs.  “It was worth my money to have her altered.”

“Yeah?” Bigby asks.  “Well, it may be what led to her death.”

“How do you figure?” Georgie asks.

“Because she was in her Snow White getup when we found the body,” Bigby says.  “Maybe someone thought he was offing the real Snow White.”

Georgie snorts.  “Don’t be ridiculous,” he says.  “If she was dressed like that, she was out on a job.”

“Oh really?” Bigby asks, raising an eyebrow.  “A job with whom?”

“How the fuck should I know?” Georgie asks.  “I provide the location, I don’t get involved with the cliental.  I don’t want that kind of heat.  Anyway, whatever it is, got nowt to do with me, ok?  Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He turns the music back on.

“We’re not done here,” Bigby shouts.

“What are you going to do about it, eh?” Georgie sneers.  Bigby starts towards him, and he scrambles to his feet.  “Oh aye, you’re going to hit me are you?  Go ahead then.  That’s what you want to do.”

Bigby punches him hard in the jaw.  “Who hired her?” he shouts over the music.

Georgie gets to his feet and rubs his jaw.  “You proud of yourself, mate?” he asks.  “Beating on an unarmed man?”

“Turn this fucking shit off so we can speak at a normal pitch,” I shout.

“You let all your bitches talk like that?” Georgie shouts.

“Fucking do it before I punch you again,” Bigby shouts.

Georgie shuts the music off.  “There,” I say.  “Much better.”

An asari dressed in Eclipse getup appears from behind the bar.  “Everything ok?” she asks quietly.

“Fuck off Elnora,” Georgie snaps and she makes to withdraw from the room again.

“Hold up one second,” Bigby says.  “Elnora is it?  I have some questions for you.”

“Elnora is only here to provide a bit of muscle,” Georgie says quickly.  “She don’t know anything about the girls or their clients.  No one knows.  Don’t you get it?  It’s bad for business.”

“Well, you could always look it up,” Elnora says cheerily.

“What’s that?” Bigby asks as Georgie visibly flinches.

“Isn’t there a datapad with all the stuff about the girls and all that written up in it?”

“You’re a fucking moron, Elnora,” Georgie snaps, starting for her.

“Hold up,” Bigby says, grabbing his left arm.  “Show me.”

“Fuck off,” Georgie snaps.

Bigby raises an eyebrow, and squeezes hard on Georgie’s shoulder.  “Get off,” Georgie says, squirming.  His face goes red and then pale.

“I’m going to break it soon,” Bigby says.  “Just so you know.  Any time you want me to stop, you just tell me where the datapad is.”

There is a sickening crunch and Georgie howls.  Bigby sighs and releases him.  “Fucking useless,” he says.  “Elnora, maybe you can help us.”

“Sure,” Elnora says brightly.  “Right this way.”

She goes behind the bar and moves a beer keg with her biotics.  Underneath it is a small trapdoor.  “It’s all in there,” she says, pointing at it.  “You could probably hack it.  Else, he has the code on his omnitool.”

Bigby turns to Georgie.  “Open it,” he commands.

“This is fucking bullshit,” Georgie whimpers. 

“Open it or I’ll break your other fucking arm,” Bigby snaps.

Georgie seems to think Bigby is being serious, because he presses a button on his omnitool.  The safe door clicks open.  Bigby crouches over it, coming up with a datapad, which he hands to me.

There is a single document on it, which I open.  “Here,” I say, scanning it.  “Lily’s last entry.  Who’s Mr Smith?”

“Oh,” Georgie says, out of breath.  “I’m afraid that might be a fake name.  See, that’s sort of how this whole business works.”

“What’s 207?” I ask. 

“Room number?” Bigby suggests.

“I don’t fucking know,” Georgie snaps.  “Could be millimetres.”

“Haha you’re so cute,” I say.

“Don’t bullshit me, Georgie,” Bigby snaps, raising a hand.  Georgie flinches.

“The girls are the ones who make the arrangements with the clients, not me,” he says quickly, although Bigby seems more interested in something behind Georgie now.  “They’re the ones with the Mr Smiths and the Mr Graths and so on.  Whatever happens outside the club, that’s on them.”

“Right, fair enough,” Bigby says.  “You should have a Cobweb take a look at that arm by the way.  Excuse me.”

He strolls past Georgie towards a door in the back wall of the room.  I put the datapad on the bar, pick Swineheart up and quickly follow him.  “What’s going on?” I whisper to him.

“Shh,” is the reply. 

The door leads to a changing room of sorts, inside which the girl from the stripper pole is sitting, touching up her make up.  She has thankfully put a Feed Dogs t-shirt on, which only serves to make her look younger.

“Hey,” Bigby says.

“Hey,” she replies.  She speaks with the slightest Citadel accent.  “I heard you out there.  I’ve never seen you here before.”

“This place is not really to my tastes,” Bigby replies.

The girl’s eyes fall on me.  “You’re Jordan Shepard’s daughter, aren’t you?”

There seems no point in denying it.  “I am,” I reply.

“He’s a good man,” she says.

“I keep telling myself that,” I say.

She gives half-a-smile, and then smears lipstick on her lips.  “My name is Oriana Lawson,” she says. 

“Well, Oriana, I’ve got some questions,” Bigby says.

“Of course you do,” Oriana says.  She sounds so tired.  “I don’t have answers,” she says.  “You’ll have to find those yourself.”

“Do you know what number 207 means?” Bigby asks.  “I assume it’s a room number, but where?”

Oriana sighs, and puts her lipstick down again.  “We can’t talk about work,” she says.

“Six girls are dead,” Bigby says.  “All Eclipse hookers.”

“I mean _can’t_ ,” Oriana emphasises.

“I couldn’t care less,” Bigby snaps.  “I need to know about this.  Lily’s last entry.  Who is Mr Smith and where is 207?”

Oriana bites her lip delicately.  “I can’t talk about that, but…” her eyes widen.  “Would you like to make an appointment with me?” she asks slowly.

“I don’t have time for this,” Bigby snaps.

“No, Bigby, I think you do,” I say, watching Oriana.

“You should listen to your friend,” Oriana says.

“What are you suggesting?” Bigby asks.

“We could make all of the usual arrangements,” Oriana shrugs.  “You know, the usual place.”

“What would you need?” Bigby asks.

“You need to pay me,” Oriana says.  “Georgie will ask questions otherwise.”

“Can I use cigarettes?” Bigby asks.  She nods.  “How many?” he asks.

“Fifty,” Oriana says.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Bigby says.  “Twenty.”

“Are you seriously going to haggle with a hooker?” I ask loudly.

“I only have thirty,” Bigby says.  I reach into my pockets and bring up the pack I’ve been saving for a rainy day.  “Oh great, thanks Jane,” he says.

“You’re welcome,” I reply.

Oriana snatches up the cigarettes and makes for the door.  “What do you think of all this?” Bigby asks me in an undertone.

“Right now I think we’re in over our heads,” I answer honestly.  “We’re investigating the Eclipse.  I don’t think this is going to end well for us.”

Oriana returns with a key card for a door and hands it to Bigby.  “205 at the Open Arms?” he asks.  “I want to get into 207.”

“I’m sure you’ll make a plan,” Oriana says.

Bigby sighs and turns to me.  “One more road trip?” he asks.

“For you?” I reply.  “Anything.”

..... 

The Open Arms is in Doru District, which is fortunately close to where my parents live.  Swineheart is clearly tired, so I carry him as we walk.  “I don’t know much about this place,” Bigby says as we walk.

“I do,” I say.

“Of course you do,” he says, long-sufferingly.  “Well, go ahead.”

“Right,” I say.  “It’s owned by Eclipse.  People hire out rooms for sleeping, or, more commonly, seeing mistresses or, you know, prostitutes.”

“Similar to Mr Toad’s place then?” Bigby asks.

“Sure, except Mr Toad’s place leans more to sleeping rather than, uh, sex,” I say.

“Hm,” Bigby says.

A pretty young woman who looks vaguely familiar is manning (ha ha) the front desk.  “Good evening and welcome to the Open Arms,” she says, smiling reassuringly at us.  She frowns slightly when she sees me.  “You have a room?” she asks.

“Yeah,” Bigby says.  “205.”

“Follow me,” she says.

The place is incredibly rundown, and I feel myself developing lice as we walk.  We climb the stairs to the second floor.

“Here we are,” she says, stopping in front of room 205.

“We actually need to get into room 207,” Bigby says.

“Um, excuse me?” the woman asks.  For some reason, her outfit bothers me.  She is far too clean to be working in a place like this.

“A girl was killed, and this is the last known place she was alive,” Bigby says.  “We’re investigating her death.”

“For the Suns?” the woman asks in surprise.

Bigby shakes his head.  “Archangel,” he says.

“Oh my,” the woman says, and I supress a derisive snort.  “That is certainly interesting and worthy of my time.  This way.”

“Were you working two nights ago?” Bigby asks as we walk down the hall to room 207.

“I was,” the woman says.

“Did you see Snow White here?” Bigby asks.

“Leo White’s daughter?” she asks.  He nods.  “It’s funny that you say that but I did see someone who looked an awful lot like her.  She was accompanied by an older human.  I didn’t really see his face, he was wearing a cap.”

“Hear anything odd?” I ask.

She shrugs.  “You hear all kinds of weird things in this place,” she says.  She stops in front of the door, me behind her and Bigby behind the two of us.  “Here we are,” she says.

“Belle?” a voice asks loudly behind her.

Behind us is a tall, handsome man.  He too looks familiar, and I realise that the two of them had petitioned Aria for money a few weeks ago.  They are from Tuhi and thus pretty well off.  “Adam,” the woman gasps.

“What are you doing?” Adam is clearly furious.  “Who is this boy?”

“Adam, no,” Belle says.  “It’s not what you think?”

“And with an underage hooker too?” Adam gasps, seeing me.

“Hey what the fuck,” I say.  Adam advances on us.

“Ok, buddy, I have no idea who you are or what you think is going on, but you need to back down,” Bigby says.

“Shut the fuck up,” Adam snaps.  “She’s married, you twat.  To me.”

“To…oh,” Bigby says.  “Right.  Listen, we’re not fucking…”

“I know who you are,” Adam says.  “You have a reputation for sleeping with tons of women too old for you.”  with this, he swings at Bigby, who blocks the punch.  I jump onto Adam’s back, who falls against Bigby, who falls through the door of room 207.

“What the fuck you guys, I’m going to be in so much trouble,” Belle shrieks as the three of us freeze.

“Hot damn,” Adam whispers, his eyes on the bed, which is covered is blood.

“I guess we found the crime scene,” Bigby says.


	7. Char or: is this my day for family calls?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read through this chapter when I came back to the fic to figure out exactly where I was in the story and was like "Well, it's too good not to post."  
> Reference is made to a specific part of Saints Row 2. Also, given that it is a phobia, trigger warnings to general hospital stuff, including teeth being pulled by a dentist and reference to a still-birth

I only had one toy when I was growing up.  It was a soft, hand-sewn doll that my mother had made for me for my fourth birthday, and I took it everywhere.  I still have it somewhere in my bag, although by now it’s very ratty and dirty.

One day, Charlie, Mumtaz and I were playing on the street outside the Blue Suns house.  At one point, I dropped Amina (the doll) on her head, and I was bandaging it with an old sock I had found in one of the rubbish tips.

“Excuse me,” a voice said from above me.  I looked up.  I had never seen the man who was talking to me before, so I ignored him, and went back to bandaging Amina’s head, my tongue between my teeth.

“What are you doing?” the man asked, undeterred.

“What’s it look like?” I asked somewhat rudely.

“Are you bandaging your doll’s head?” he asked.

I sighed.  “I dropped her and now she has an owie,” I explained impatiently.

“Of course,” the man said apologetically.  “What’s your name?”

“Charlie,” I said.  I pointed at the house.  “I live there with my dad and my sister,” I told him.

He flinched ever so slightly, although I didn’t notice at the time.

“I’m Alex,” the man said.  He extended a hand, and I put my rather filthy one in his.  “Tell me Charlie-”

“Char,” I corrected.  I pointed to where Mumtaz and Charlie were playing with a marble that had rolled into the gutter.  “She’s Charlie.”

“Right,” Alex said.  “Tell me Char: what do you want to do when you grow up?”

I shrugged.  “Dunno,” I said uncaringly.  “My mom’s a singer, but my dad says I have to join up when I’m old enough.  Pay my dues?  Do you know what that means?”

“Do you?” he asked.

“Yes but I don’t have to tell you,” I said.  bandage secured, I tucked Amina under my arm and made to re-join the other two, but Alex put a hand on my shoulder. 

“Where are your parents now?” he asked.

“My dad’s up there,” I pointed again to the house.  “My mom is on Ala…Al…she had to leave cos my dad wanted to kill her.”

“Is everything ok here?” a voice said.  Mumtaz had finally noticed what was going on.

“Yes, I was just talking to Char here,” Alex said friendlily. 

“We don’t talk to strangers,” Mumtaz said, taking my hand.  “Come on Char.”

“I can give her a better life,” Alex said.  “She can learn to read and write, and do something worthwhile with her life.”

Mumtaz gave him an icy glare.  “What use would that be for her?” she asked.

 .....

Bigby is in the clinic waiting room when I get there.  “What are you doing here?” I ask.

“We made kind of a discovery last night,” he says.  “Did you have a good evening?”

“Yeah, it was fine,” I say.  In all honesty, it is really strange to be living with my father again, much less living in one place for an extended period.

“Did Jane get home ok?” I ask instead.

“Yeah and before her curfew for a change,” he says.  “Her dad ought to give me a medal.”

“I doubt that’s going to happen,” I say.  I motion for him to follow me to the staff room, which is empty.  “What did you discover?”

He quickly explains the events of last night.  “So…you want us to see if we can match DNA found on the sheets and stuff in the room to find out who Lily was with last?” I ask slowly.

“Exactly,” he says.  His eyes are slightly manic, so I shove a mug of coffee at him.

“Did you sleep at all last night?” I ask.

“I was helping the scouts transport everything here,” he says.  “Do you think it’ll work?”

“I…no, Bigby, I don’t,” I say.  “That place is used by a huge amount of people.  Who knows how much DNA we’re going to pull.  And we don’t have any databases, we won’t be able to have anything to match the DNA against.”

“Alex has already solved that,” Bigby says smugly.  “You start making databases now.”

“Oh by going door-to-door and taking DNA samples from everyone?” I ask.  “There are five of us.  There is no way we can do that.”

“No, by taking samples from everyone that comes to the clinic,” Bigby says.

“Oh great, that makes it a lot simpler,” I say.  “What’s going to happen if we, by some miracle, do manage to catch your killer?”

“Huh?” he asks.

“Whoever is doing this isn’t breaking any laws, because, well, there aren’t any laws here,” I say. 

“Six girls are dead,” Bigby says.  “He should still be brought to justice.”

“Justice?” I ask.  “Or retribution.”

He sighs in frustration.  “What are you trying to say, Char?” he asks irritably.

“I’m saying we need to be very careful not to become the people that we’re trying to fight,” I say.

“So by bringing a serial killer to justice, we are as bad as your dad?” he snaps.

“That’s not…oh never mind,” I sigh.  “Just be careful, ok?”

“I always am,” he says.  He watches me, an odd expression on his face.  “We are better than them, Char,” he says at last.  “We’re doing this for the right reasons.”

The door opens and Alex and Felix come in.  “Morning,” Alex says cheerily.  “Dorian not in yet?”

“He’s off until tonight,” I say.  Bigby waves at me and disappears through the door.

“I called him to come in,” Alex says.  “We have a bit of a situation.”

 .....

“We have a plague,” Alex explains.  It is thirty minutes later and we are all crowded around the table in the staff table.  We all groan.

“I know I know,” Alex says, placatory.  “Fortunately it’s in Kenzo, which is small enough for us to control, but it’s still quarantine protocol.  The Brotherhood have given us their full support and even found a building we can use.  We need to work out shifts though.”

We all pray that plagues never happen, because they tend to be very bad news for us all.  There aren’t enough qualified Cobwebs on Omega for us to have multiple branches for our clinic, which is why we only operate out of Gozu, with people from all the other districts travelling to us.  When quarantine protocols are put into place however, no one can enter or leave the affected district until the plague has cleared up.  Because of this, we tend to set up a clinic in the district to treat the plague victims and everyone else affected by the inevitable violence that came from panic and being cooped up too long.  Two Cobwebs go with Mordin (who works on discovering a cure) to the plague clinic, where they work an eighteen hour on six hour off shift.  The remaining two stay and run the Gozu clinic.  Either option sucks.  On the one hand, you’re away from home until the plague was cured.  On the other, you are likely to work for days on end with little to no sleep.

We draw lots, and it ends up being me and Dorian staying behind, whilst Felix and Alex go to the plague clinic.

“Now, remember-,” Alex begins, looking slightly worried.

“Triage, sleep, eat, use your assistants,” Dorian says, smiling slightly.  “Don’t worry so, Alex.  We know.  This isn’t our first plague.”

“You are the youngest,” Alex says.

“Means we have more energy,” I say.  “Dorian and I will be fine.  You should be more worried about Felix.  He’s getting old.”

“Why don’t you say that to my face?” Felix says irritably.

“She just did, old man,” Dorian says, smiling slightly.

“Should pack,” Mordin says, clapping his hands together.  “Pasha will travel with us, as well as five scouts.  All the assistants will remain here.”

“And I should probably call home and let them know that I won’t be back for some time,” I say.

 .....

To say my father wasn’t pleased when Alex made his offer to him was an understatement.  “What use would an education be to her?” he snapped.  He was cleaning a rifle, which Alex eyed nervously.

“Well, it would teach her more of the galaxy, and she would be learning an honest trade,” Alex said.

“What use would it be for her to learn more of the galaxy, she’s never going to see it,” Zaeed said.

“You can’t know that,” Alex answered.  Zaeed snorted derisively.  “The truth is, we all need Cobwebs.  She would be helpful, not only to me, but to everyone on Omega.  Otherwise, what future would she have here?”

“Whatever I tell her to do,” Zaeed said.  “She is my daughter.  She does what I tell her to.”

“And does her mother agree with that?”

“Her mother is dead,” Zaeed said shortly.

“That’s not what Charlie tells me,” Alex said calmly.  Zaeed glared at me and I shrank back.

“Her mother left us three years ago,” Zaeed said.  “I am raising my daughters on my own.”

“Look, I can give her a chance,” Alex said.  “She deserves that much, doesn’t she?  A chance to try and make something better of her life?”

“Was this your doing?” Zaeed snapped in Persian at Mumtaz.

“No, Dad,” she murmured in reply.

“Please Dad, I really want to do this,” I said quietly in Persian.

“For what?” he asked me.

“I get to learn to read, and I can fix people,” I answered.

“What she chooses to do once her training is complete is her choice,” Alex said, watching this exchange.  “She could return to the Blue Suns if she wanted to.”

Zaeed made a disparaging noise.  “Fine,” he snapped, turning back to his rifle.  “Take her.  But know that she will eat you out of house and home.  Now get the fuck out of my sight.”

..... 

Dorian and I soon get into an appropriate rhythm for work, and even manage to hold our clinics a few days after the plague starts.  It helps that the gangs seem to have declared an unofficial truce for the time being, meaning that we were treating more random acts of violence and less regimented acts of violence. 

“Dorian, can I ask you a question?” I ask two days later.

“Given that I am my favourite topic, of course you can,” he replies.

“Why did you decide to become a Cobweb?” I ask.

“Alex was my favourite uncle,” Dorian answers.  “I wanted to follow in his footsteps.  And also, it was a good excuse to spend time with Felix, until they came here that is.  I’m afraid you’re right.  It has to come out.”

“What?” the yahg asks nervously, shrinking in the chair.

“Great, that is so not what I wanted to hear,” I sigh.

“How do you think I feel?” the yahg asks.

“Mr Ysicanth, how do you think we feel?” Dorian asks sternly.  “Do you think we want to go rooting around in that giant mouth of yours?  You should have taken better care of your teeth if you didn’t want this to happen.”

I sigh and pick up a piece of rope, which I loop around the offending tooth.  I hand Dorian the ends of the rope, and then stand behind him.

“Don’t I get pain medication?” Mr Ysicanth asked in a muffled voice.

“Do you think we can afford to just give pain medication out to anyone?” I ask irritably.  “What would we give to all the serious ailments?  You ready, Dorian?”

“You bet,” he says.  I wrap my arms around his waist, and we start pulling.  “Why did you want to know about why I became a Cobweb though?” he asks loudly over Mr Ysicanth’s screams.

“Just curious,” I reply.

“You having some regrets?” he asks.

I shrug against his back.  “I hate Thursdays,” I say.

“I don’t think anyone enjoys this,” Dorian says meaningfully.  We continue to strain against the tooth.  “Stubborn bugger, isn’t he?” he says after a pause.

“Tell me about it,” I sigh.  There is a loud popping noise as the tooth frees itself from the gum, and Dorian falls backwards on top of me.  The tooth lands with a clatter above my head.

“Well, that’s that,” Dorian says, getting up and dusting himself off.

“Yeah, thanks for your help,” I say.

“No problem,” Dorian says.  “I may need your help with the krogan I have lined up this afternoon.”

“I’m not really happy to help, but, you know, I’m here if you need me,” I say.  I turn to Mr Ysicanth as Dorian leaves the examination room, and start piling gauze into the hole where the tooth had been.  “Now, Mr Ysicanth, you should be fine to eat nutrient paste, but avoid any hard foods for the next few days.  No drinking, no drugs…like ever.  It destroys your teeth.  And invest in a toothbrush.  You have a big mouth and a lot of teeth.  You’ll look ridiculous if I have to pull them all.  The pain should be gone in about four days.  If it persists, make an appointment with the front desk to see me again.”

He glares at me before lumbering out the room.  I scrape a piece of gum off of the tooth, and put it into a dish, before heaving the tooth to one side to be incinerated with whatever bodies we would be burning.

I stick my head around the curtain.  “Lymera, send the next one in,” I say.  “And find me an assistant.  They can’t all be on lunch.”

Marian comes in a few moments later, with a very tall, very thin man with an abnormally large nose.  Marian hands me a datapad and I read the name on it.  “Ah, Mr Crane,” I say in astonishment.  “It is good to meet you.  How can I help?”

“I have a toothache,” he says in a muffled voice.

“Why don’t you take a seat?” I asked, indicating the dentists’ chair in the middle of the room.  He sits down, looking somewhat nervous.  “Which tooth?” I ask.

“One of the back ones,” he says.  “On the left.”

“Alright, well, scooch back,” I say.  He does so.  “Open wide,” I say, and he obediently opens his mouth.

“Right,” I say after a few moments.  “It looks like the second molar.  The tooth is cracked right down the middle.  Were you in a fight?”

“I walked into a door,” he says.

“Vicious door,” Marian remarks.  I give her a look.  “What?” she asks innocently.  “You and Dorian get the witty asides, but I have to be quiet?”

“It’ll need to come out, it’s already causing decay,” I say.  “Marian, prep the patient.”

“Wait, what?” Crane asks in astonishment.  “Is there no way to save it?”

“I’m afraid not,” I say.  “I might have been able to if you hadn’t waited several days to come see me, but now it’s too late.  So, lie back and relax.”

“Do I get anaesthesia?” he asks.

“We keep those for the serious cases,” I say.  My omnitool beeps for an incoming call.  “Marian,” I say, answering.  “Char here.”

“Hey honey,” a voice says.  It’s my mom.

“Hey Mom,” I say, checking my implements.  “What’s up?”

“I haven’t heard from you in a while,” she says.

“Yeah, sorry, I’ve been super busy,” I say.  “We have a plague in Kenzo, so Alex has Dorian and me running the Gozu clinic, whilst he, Felix and Mordin work with the plague victims.  How are you?”

“I’m good,” she answers.  “Sick and tired of the bloody cold?  How are you?”

“I’m fine,” I say. 

“Patient’s ready,” Marian says.

“Ok, prep suction and gauze,” I say.

“Vido told me that you’re living in the Blue Suns house again,” Mom says.

I nervously adjust the collar of my turtleneck, although Mom can’t see me.  “Yeah, I got tired of sharing Johnny’s sofa with Charlie and sharing Bigby’s floor with…well, Bigby,” I say.  “Ok, Mr Crane, open wide.”

“Are you sure you should be talking on the omnitool and pulling my tooth at the same time?” Mr Crane asked nervously.

“I’m a woman, I can multitask,” I say.  “Marian…drill.”  She hands me the drill, and I run it a few times before making for Mr Crane’s mouth.  “So, how’s Tristian?” I ask. 

“He’s good,” Mom says.  “He may have found his future wife.”

“Isn’t he eleven?” I ask.  “Mr Crane, seriously, if you hit my hand like that, I may end up cutting your tongue off.”

“Honey, you’re probably one of the only in Terminus who doesn’t have a future spouse yet.”

“That’s not true,” I say.  “It’s a stupid tradition that is thankfully going out of fashion.”  I sigh.  “How is Drew?”

“Fine,” Mom says.  “The stall is going well.  Is your father treating you ok?”

“Mom, it’s Zaeed,” I say.  “I don’t think he knows that people can survive on anything other than red sand and cheap beer.”

“Well, thank God you’re old enough to take care of yourself now,” Mom says.

“Yeah, well I wasn’t ten years ago, but that’s ok,” I say.  “Marian, seriously, could you be worse at suctioning?  I can see fuckall in this man’s mouth.”

“Right, sorry,” Marian murmurs.

“Look, Charlie, you know that’s not my fault,” Mom says.  “If I had known what would have happened, I would have brought you and Mumtaz with, you know that right?”

“Yeah sure,” I say.  “Give me the tweezers.”

“Charlie-,”

“Mom, I have to go,” I say.

“I love you,” she says.

“Yeah, ok,” I say.  “Bye.  Marian, hang up for me.”

“Um, I’m scrubbed.”

I sigh.  “Mom, hang up, I’m busy in Icabod Crane’s mouth,” I say.  He gives a loud whine.  “Oh shut up,” I say irritably.

“Ok,” Mom says.  “Bye love.”

..... 

Kai shows up to bring me dinner.  I am sitting in the staff room, playing around with the nutrient paste tube that Daniel had gone to fetch from the Blue Suns stand.  “Hey,” he says.

“Hey,” I say, looking up.  “What are you doing here?  Dentist clinic is done.  And I’d think that you would be well-versed in pulling teeth.”

“No, Vido sent me,” Kai says. 

“Oh good,” I mumble.  “So, what does he want?”

“He heard that you were stuck here, so he sent me with dinner.”  Kai holds up a knapsack.  “Chicken, bread, cheese, butter, tomato.”

“Huh,” I say.  “For the money he spent on that he could have fed an entire district for a week.”

“Look, I didn’t spend the money, I just brought the food here,” Kai says.  “Are you going to take it or not?”

“Sure, whatever,” I say, grabbing the knapsack.  “Thanks.”  I turn away.

“Charlie can I ask you something?” Kai asks.

“Is there any way I can convince you not to?” I ask.

“Why do you do this?” he asks.

“Well, mostly because I don’t like you or Vido,” I say.

“No, I actually meant why did you become a Cobweb?”

“Because it’s a hell of a lot better than beating up spouses and killing mentally disabled girls,” I say shortly.

“But you’re one of us.”

“Yeah, why don’t you fuck back off to sticking your nose up my father’s ass,” I say.

“You’re really hot,” he says.  I give him a look.  “And fiery,” he adds.  “Get it?  Like your hair.”

“Maybe you didn’t hear me the first time when I told you to go back to hell,” I snap.

“Sure, I’m leaving,” he says.  “Maybe we should get dinner sometime?”

“I’d rather gargle acid,” I snap.  Dorian walks in.

“Everything ok?” he asks mildly.

“Ok, see you later,” Kai says, springing to his feet and leaving.

“You ok?” Dorian asks me.

“Yeah,” I say.  “I just…really hate that guy.  We should share this out on the ward.”  I hand him the knapsack.

“Don’t you want this?” Dorian asks.

“Not even a little,” I say.  “Fuck the Suns.”

“Ok then,” Dorian says doubtfully.

 .....

Two hours later, I receive a call from my father.  “This is Char,” I say answering.

“Charlie,” he says.

“God, is this my day for family calls?” I say irritably.  “Push, Ms Kedris.”

“What is going on?” Zaeed asks as she screams.

“I’m in the middle of a delivery,” I say.  “She’s dilated and this kid is beginning to crown, so whatever you have to say, you’d better say it quick.”

“Ok then, I heard Vido sent Kai to bring you dinner,” Zaeed says.

“Yeah, tell him that the patients on the wards thank him for the delicious meal,” I say.  “I have the head.”

“I also heard that he asked you out to dinner and you turned him down.”

I slip the umbilical cord over the head.  “Ok, we’re almost there,” I say.  “Take a breath.  I honestly don’t see how it’s any of your business what Kai may or may not have said to me, Zaeed.”

“Given that you’re fourteen and single, it is very much my business,” Zaeed says.  “You’re my daughter.”

“Barely,” I say.

“Excuse me.”

“You mean I’m barely your daughter,” I say.  “Ok, here we go, push again.”

“You’re living under my roof, which means you’re once again following my rules,” Zaeed says.

I catch the baby.  “It’s a girl,” I say, handing it to Daniel and ripping my gloves off.  “Listen, Zaeed, you can’t force me to do this.”

“Wanna bet?” he asks.  “Right now, you’re not being much use to me, and you’re frankly embarrassing me with the fact that you still don’t have a future husband.”

“Things must have been so much easier when humans had a life expectancy that was older than forty,” I say sarcastically.

“Go out with Kai,” he orders.

“Wow, Dad, are you going to tell me when I fuck him as well?” I snap.

“Watch your fucking mouth,” he snaps.

“Fine, I’ll go on the stupid date with the stupid fucking mobster,” I snap.

“That’s all I needed to hear,” he says and hangs up.

 .....

“Mordin says that he almost has the cure cracked,” Dorian says, flopping onto the bed.

“He said that a week ago,” I say. 

“Apparently it’s a complicated plague,” he says.

“Thank god I’m not down there then,” I say.

“Don’t be so sure, things look like their heating up in Gozu again,” Dorian says.

“Fantastic,” I say.  “All the more reason for you to get some sleep.”

“Great,” Dorian says.  “Good luck out there.”

“Yup,” I finish my coffee.  “Sleep well.”

“Thanks, you too,” Dorian mumbles.

 .....

The clinic is in chaos.  The plague has been going on for three weeks, and neither Dorian nor I have left the clinic.  We are all living on less than four hours of sleep a day.  By the looks of the waiting room, this day is not shaping up to be any better. 

Three hours later, Dorian joins me on the shift, and we manage to turn patients fairly quickly.  After about two hours, my head is pounding, and I send Vistus to make us another pot of coffee.

“Ok, Marian, who’s next on the triage list?” I ask.  I press my fingers against my forehead as though that would cure the throbbing.

“Sorry to interrupt,” Lymera sticks her head around, “We have a GSW and possible amputation that just came in.  Code red.”

“Urgh,” I sigh.  “Who triaged?”

“The new kid, Graz,” she says.

I sigh.  “Give me the file.”

“Cubical three,” Lymera says, handing me a datapad.

“Marian, with me,” I say.

“So, I was thinking,” Marian says as we cross the waiting room.  “We need a badass, disease-fighting, superhero name.”

“Oh yeah, and what would that be?” I ask.

“Charmar,” Marian says.

“Right, ok,” I say, walking around the curtain of cubicle three.  “Maybe I should think of something that doesn’t sound like a krogan me-,” I turn and freeze.  “Charlie?” I say.  “What the fuck?”

 .....

“-and then Ver showed up, hollering that Johnny had been captured by the Suns, so we grabbed a bunch of guns and went to fuck the Suns up,” Charlie explains.

“How long ago was he shot?” I ask, making notes on my omnitool.

“Uh…” Charlie stutters.

“Shouldn’t that be in the history Graz took?” Marian whispers.

“Neither Dorian nor I have had time to train him, ok?” I say.  “The only history he took is all the women Johnny has slept with.  Yo Johnny, what time was it when you were shot?”

“I don’t know, sometime last night,” Johnny groans.  “Char, please, give me painkillers or something.  Make it fucking stop.”

“All in good time, Johnny,” I say.  “Marian, those x-rays developed?”

“Just sent them to the datapad,” she answers.

I open the x-rays, and examine them.  “Ok this kneecap is shattered,” I say.  “Marian, prep the patient for amputation.  Charlie, you need to step out.  This is going to get messy.”

“Wait what?” Charlie exclaims.

“Amputation?” Johnny groans.  “What’s that mean?”

“It means she chops your leg off,” Marian says helpfully.

“Marian: bedside manner,” I say.

“Oh, it’s ok for you to be all sassy, but when I start it’s suddenly ‘bedside manner’,” Marian mumbles.

“You can’t chop off my leg,” Johnny says, trying to get up.  Charlie puts a hand on his chest and pushes him back down. 

“Char, he’s right,” Charlie says.  “He needs his leg.”

“It’s standard protocol,” I say.  “His patella is shattered (that’s the bone in the knee) and reconstruction takes too long.  At the moment it’s only me and Dorian here, so having one of us in theatre for upwards of eight hours would be way too dangerous.”

“Char, he’ll be fucking crippled,” Charlie says.  “He’ll be easy pickings.”

“You think I don’t feel bad about it?” I ask.  “This is the best we can do.  Otherwise he’ll die.”

Johnny grabs my hand.  “Char,” he says hoarsely.  “Please.  I’ll be dead in a week.”

I look down at his pale, sweaty face and my head gives a particularly nasty throb.  “Ok,” I say.  “Ok.  I’ll save your leg.”

“Oh this is going to end badly,” Marian murmurs.

“None of that,” I say.  “Marian, prep the theatre.  Don’t let Dorian see you and…and tell Lymera it’s for a GSW to the abdomen.  I’ll prep the patient.”

She nods and leaves.

..... 

I wheel Johnny to the theatre without incident.  Marian has already prepared the theatre, and together we move him onto the operating table.  “Ok,” I say.  My heart is pounding in time with the throbbing pain in my head.  “Ok, Johnny, Marian is going to administer the anaesthesia whilst I go scrub.  I’ll see you when I wake up.”

He grabs my hand.  “Char,” he whispers.  “Thank you.”

“Thank me when I save your leg,” I say.  I kiss him on the forehead.  “You’ll be fine,” I say, not sure if I’m convincing him or myself.

My hands are shaking whilst I scrub.  Ordinarily, Cobwebs have a minimum of two assistants assigned to them when in theatre.  I can’t afford to pull another one out of the clinic, we are understaffed as it is.  This would be the first time I perform a surgery unsupervised, and whilst I know the theory, I have never done something as complex as a patella reconstruction.

“You can do this,” I whisper to myself.  “Breathe.  Focus.”

I finish scrubbing, and go into the theatre, where Marian helps me into my gown and gloves.  “Ok,” I say, trying to keep my voice calm.  “Marian, you’ll be watching levels as well as handling the trays.  Are you up for it?”

“Of course,” she says.

“Alright then,” I say. “Let’s begin.”

..... 

Five hours later I was feeling much less calm.  “Why won’t it hold?” I say desperately.

“If I knew the answer to that, I would be the one doing the surgery,” Marian says.

“Maybe I should do a replacement?” I suggest, my voice wavering.

“You’ll need to leave the theatre for that,” she answers.  “Besides, I don’t know if we have any prosthetics, much less any that will fit him.”

“How about a transplant?” I ask.  “We have lots of cadavers in the morgue.”

“Same issue,” Marian says.  “And you’d need to screen with blood type and tissue.  It would take to long.”

I want to grind my face into my hands.  The incision waivers in front of me.  “Marian,” I whisper.

“Yeah?” she replies.

“I think I fucked up,” I say.  It’s a testament to her that she doesn’t immediately reply with an “I told you so.”

“You were trying to do the right thing,” she says at last.

The door to the theatre opens behind me, and I let out an internal sigh as I turn in the direction of the voice.  “You’re stabilising a GSW to the abdomen, what is taking so-,” Dorian’s voice trails off.  His eyes sweep over me and Marian, the mess that is Johnny’s knee, and then Johnny’s face.  He goes a strange mixture of grey and red.

“What the fuck are you doing?” he whispers.

“Uh,” I stutter.

“Benjamin Gat’s sister is in the delivery room having her baby,” he says at last.

“I couldn’t take his leg,” I whisper.

“Well, you should have,” he snaps.

“It would…I couldn’t,” I repeat.  “He wouldn’t be able to survive otherwise.  He’s made too many people…” my voice trails off.

“You can’t make that kind of judgement,” he snaps.  “It’s not your job.  Step away.”

I make a decision.  “No,” I say quietly.

He clicks his tongue loudly.  “This is not the hill you want to die on, Charlie.  Step away so that I can fix this mess,” he says.  “You go scrub out and get back into the clinic.”

I glance at Marian, whose eyes are huge behind her mask.  She nods once, almost imperceptibly.  “Fine,” I say.

“Hawke, watch the levels until I have scrubbed,” Dorian says.  “Are you ok to continue?”

“Yes sir,” Marian murmurs.

I follow Dorian out into the scrub room.  He doesn’t talk to me as he ferociously washes his hands.  “Dorian,” I whisper when he wraps his hands in a towel.

“You don’t get to speak right now,” he snaps, and with that he goes back into the theatre. 

I lean my head against the cool metal of the wash basin.  It doesn’t really help.

..... 

The clinic waiting room is in chaos when I get there, with only a bewildered-looking Daniel working it.  He looks relieved when he sees me.

“I’m so glad you’re here,” he says.  “We have a delivery in the delivery room.  Graz is watching her.  A stabbing in cubicle one, Vistus is managing the blood loss, but she won’t start suturing until you or Dorian sign off.  Head trauma in cubicle two, I’m trying to keep an eye on that one, but Dorian said I need to triage.  GSW in cubicle three.  Taria is watching that one.  You should probably start there.  Then in the waiting room, there are five reds, seven yellows and eighteen greens.”

“Ok,” I say.  “Send Taria to the delivery room, and have Graz join me.  If he’s going to learn, he’s going to need to be out here.  Tell Taria to fetch me as soon as the delivery is fully dilated.  You stay on triage.”

“Got it,” Daniel says.

..... 

Two hours later, Taria comes into cubicle two, where I am busy stabilising a burn wound.  “She’s fully dilated,” she tells me.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” I say.  “Graz, do you see how I am debriding all the dead tissue?” I ask.

“Yes,” he says. 

“Ok, you keep on doing that,” I say.  “Unfortunately, she’s going to keep screaming like that.  You get used to it.  If you run into trouble, call Daniel from the waiting room.  He’ll help you.  When you’re done, put her on electrolytes and move to the ward.  If there isn’t a bed available, move to holding, and I’ll try and open a bed when I get back.”

Graz looks terrified, but nods firmly.  “Good luck,” I say.  “Taria, let’s go.”

..... 

Andrea looks exhausted when I enter the delivery room.  “How long has the labour been?” I ask Taria. 

“Ten, twelve hours,” she says.  “She got to six centimetres and stopped for three or four hours.”

“Ok, Andrea, I’m going to check your cervix now,” I say.

“Just get it out of me,” she sobs.

“All in good time,” I say.  “Yup, ten centimetres.  You need to get ready to push on the next contraction, ok?”

“No,” she sobs.

“Did no one come in with her?” I ask Taria, who shakes her head.

“She was drunk and looked like someone had been beating on her,” she says in an undertone. 

“Ok,” I say.  “Go to the waiting room and find Carlotta Santiago or Bigby Wolf.  Preferably the latter.”

“You got it,” Taria says.

“Ok, Ree, don’t push yet,” I say.  “We’re going to find someone for you.”

“Where’s Johnny?” she asks.

I hesitate.  “We don’t know,” I say at last. 

Taria returns moments later, Bigby in tow.  He immediately goes to Andrea’s side.  “Hey Ree,” he says gently, taking her hand.  “You ready for this?”

“I’m going to be such a shitty mother,” she whispers.

“Ok, Andrea, get ready to push,” I say. 

I have delivered thousands of babies, having spent much of my early education as a Cobweb in a delivery room, and I can immediately tell when something is wrong.  As soon as Andrea’s baby is clear, I rush him over to the basinet at the side of the room.  “Start compressions,” I tell Taria, who is at my back.

She nods and starts pressing gently on the infant’s chest whilst I check the airway.  I then connect him to the cardio machines.  “No rhythm,” Taria whispers as soon as the signal comes up.

“Char, is everything ok?” Bigby asks urgently.

“Where’s my baby?” Andrea asks, disoriented.

“Was there a heartbeat during the labour?” I ask.

Colour drains from Taria’s face.  “I…I assumed that Graz had checked,” she says.

“So you didn’t check yourself?” I ask.  She shakes her head mutely.  “What about his notes?”

“No, I didn’t…didn’t think to,” she says.

I bite on my tongue to stop from screaming at her.  “Stop compressions,” I tell her.

“But we can still save him,” she says.

“He’s been dead for a while, Taria,” I snap.  “Stop compressions.”

Tears roll down her cheeks as she raises her hands.  “Stop crying and wrap the baby,” I say.  “I need to explain to the mother.”

I can see that Andrea already knows when I turn back to her.  “Why?” she sobs.

“Not gonna lie to you, but it probably has something to do with the fact that you smoked and drank throughout your pregnancy,” I say.  I sigh.  “Look, Andrea, you are so young,” I say gently.  “You know that you aren’t ready for a baby.”

“Did he suffer?” she asks quietly, wiping her face on her arm.

“No,” I say.  “He was in his home with the person he loved the most.”  Taria hands me the tiny bundle, which I place in Andrea’s arms.  “Take all the time you need,” I say gently.  “Keep an eye on her,” I tell Taria, who nods seriously.

..... 

Things finally start winding down in the clinic at the end of the day.  Dorian, who came out of the theatre a while after Andrea’s baby had been delivered, avoids me as much as possible.  Finally, he sends me to bed, when there are only a handful of green cases left in the waiting room.

Try as I might, I cannot fall asleep.  The events of the last two days keep crashing through my head, pushing my migraine to a new level.  I keep my eyes closed and try to relax, but I am unable to.

I feel the mattress depress under me.  “Alex says they’ve got the cure,” Dorian says.  I open my eyes.  He is staring up at the ceiling.  “They should be back by the end of the week.”

“That’s good,” I whisper.  Dorian nods once.  “I’m sorry,” I say.

“You should be,” he says.  “You know, we lost five people in the clinic because we didn’t have enough hands.”

“I just-,” I begin, but he cuts me off with an “I don’t want to hear it.”

“You should thank Marian by the way,” he says.  “She is an incredibly competent assistant.  If she were younger, I would recommend we train her up.”

“I know,” I say.  “Things would have been worse without her.”

“And your friend gets to keep his leg,” Dorian continues.

“Thank you,” I say.

“I didn’t do it for you,” he snaps.  “I just…I don’t get it.  You’re good.  Very good.  You know all the protocols.  Why did you do this?”

“You wouldn’t understand,” I say.

“Well, then help me understand,” Dorian snaps.

“You only moved here recently,” I say quietly.  “You don’t know what it’s like.”

“Is it more of this ‘your crew is your family, you’d die for them’ crap?” Dorian asks.

“You’re dead without your crew,” I say.

“And what about the people you’re supposed to be serving as a Cobweb?” he asks.  “Do they come second to this stupid blood oath?  You put one man’s life over all the other lives at the clinic and five people paid the price.”

“Told you, you wouldn’t understand,” I whisper.

..... 

As predicted, Alex gives me an earful when he, Felix and Mordin return from Kenzo District, which ends in me being put on ultimate final warning.  Instead of going home, I head for the lab next to the morgue.  Mordin is already in there, typing something on the terminal.

“Charlie,” he says.  “Thought Alex sent you home.”

“He did, but I want to process the DNA results for Bigby,” I say.  “He has waited long enough for them.  Shouldn’t you be going home?  You were away for a long time.”

“Just want to update notes,” he says.  “Besides, clinic isn’t closed.  May yet be needed.”

“Fair enough,” I say. 

I begin inputting the samples we had taken from everyone during the past three weeks, highlighting all the ones that matched the samples taken from the room that Lily had used.  I then match all the highlighted samples with those that had been left in the room at the same time that Lily’s had.  By this stage, Mordin is gone, and the room is swimming slightly with exhaustion, so much so that I have to squint at the terminal screen to make sure that I wasn’t hallucinating the result.

The last person who had slept with Lily had been her Snow White’s father’s business partner, Ichabod Crane.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologise for my very long delay in updating this fic. I HAVE NOT ABANDONED IT!!!! I just got super busy with work/university etc. I am going to try and update once a week again, but I don't want to make that promise and then not update. Also I start a new module soon, which looks like it's going to be super busy and then I'm travelling home for the first time in over a year, which means I won't be able to write as much cos I'll be too busy hugging my dog. Basically, this is all me apologising in advance for a bad update schedule!


	8. Ver: or I kind of suck at poetry

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warning for suicide.

The best story I have ever written is about a boy who gets to live forever because of some random advance in medical science (like all my stories, it is long and complicated).  He lives through all these wars, trials and tribulations.  I posted the story online about five months ago, and it already has billions of readers, been shared on thousands of websites, has numerous fanfictions and is being made into a motion picture.  And here I am, stuck in Terminus.  Who’s the successful author now?

..... 

“Ver, you got plans tomorrow?” Johnny asks.  Jane’s been grounded again, and with Bigby spending his free time pounding the streets looking for answers surrounding Lily’s death and Char stuck at the clinic because of the plague, it’s just been me, Charlie and him hanging out recently.

“Need to do the accounts for the mines,” I say.  “Why?”

“Sedonis and I have a job against the Blue Suns and we could use some more bodies,” Johnny says.  “Happening tomorrow at six.”

“Sorry,” I say.  “Charlie’s already asked me to help out with her move on the Brotherhood.”

“Shit, it’s gonna be a busy day tomorrow,” Johnny says.  “What’s y’alls up to tomorrow, Charlie?”

“Motherfuckers have some sort of rally happening,” Charlie answers.  “We’re gonna disrupt it.  You?”

“Drug shipment,” Johnny groans.  “Again.”

“Don’t knock it, you’re doing a lot of damage by taking the Suns’ primary source of income away,” I said.  “Gin.”

“What the fuck,” Johnny exclaims, looking between my hand and his. 

“Nice one,” Charlie says appreciatively. 

“You owe me a minor colony now,” I tell Johnny, trying not to gloat.  Winning against Johnny rarely happens.

“Go fuck yourself,” Johnny sighs. 

“I will,” I say, smiling slightly.

“Yo, Johnny, with Char outa the picture, where you getting this information about the Suns’ coming from in any case?” Charlie asks as I collect the cards and shuffle them.

“A little birdie in the form of a hack on all of Zaeed Massani’s personal communications delivered by our girl Charlie Massani told me,” Johnny says.  “Hack code written by my good friend, Ms Jane Shepard.”

“You need to be careful,” I warn.  “Zaeed will kill you and Charlie if he finds out.”

“He won’t, because Charlie and Jane are both wicked fucking smart and know how to cover their tracks.”

“If you say so,” I say.  “I wager the advance I got on my new book.”

“Actual hard credits eh?” Johnny asks.  “I may hold you to that when I beat your ass.  I wager my first born daughter.”

I win the next round too, and the round after that.  “I’m calling it a night before my luck runs out,” I say, seeing that Johnny is getting angry.

“You did good,” Johnny says gruffly.  “I’m not mad.”

“Sure you’re not,” I mumble.

“Damned if I want to know how you suddenly got so good at cards though,” Johnny continues.

“For fuck sake, Johnny, he’s been palming from the deck the past five hands,” Charlie says, amused. 

“What?” Johnny exclaims, staring wildly at me.

“It was a thing I was trying,” I explain hurriedly.

“A thing…motherfucker, the only reason you shuffle and deal is because you don’t fucking steal from the deck,” Johnny shouts.

“It’s for a book I’m writing,” I say, shrinking down.  “About a grifter.  I won’t do it again,” I add quickly.

Johnny seems to pull himself together.  “You promise?” he asks.

“Absolutely,” I say sincerely. 

“Alright,” he says, settling down again.   “Deal us another hand.”

“I should get home.”

“Motherfucker, I need to claim my throne back, deal us another hand.”

Bigby comes in at this moment.  “You look like shit,” Charlie comments.

“You’re no looker either Charlie.”

“Aw come on, old man, don’t be like that,” she says.  “How was your day?”

“Boring and useless,” he grunts, dropping onto the sofa next to me.

“So I take it no new leads on hooker Snow White’s killer?” Johnny asks.

“Do you think I would be this depressed if I had new leads?” Bigby snaps.

“Well, you’re depressed in general, so it’s hard to tell sometimes,” Johnny says.

“Shut the fuck up,” Bigby snaps.  “Where’s Jane?”

“Still grounded,” I answer.  “She should be paroled tomorrow.”

“Got any food?” Charlie asks hopefully.

Bigby digs in his pocket and pulls out four nutrient tubes.  He hands us each one, biting the top off of the fourth one and downing its contents.  The rest of us follow suit.

“Johnny, wanna share a fag with me?” Charlie asks.

“You referring to a cigarette or Ver?” Johnny asks.

Charlie rolls her eyes, and he grins as he follows her out onto the balcony.  There’s an awkward silence as I absently shuffle the cards together.

“Ver,” Bigby says at last.

“Yeah?” I ask.

“Why do people suck?”

“Uh what?”

“For every good person I find on this motherfucking space station, there are ten complete bastards.”

“I think Char would be a better-,”

“I asked you,” he snaps.  “You’re the fucking poet.”

“Actually, I kind of suck at poetry,” I say.  I sigh.  “Look, I’m the first to say that I am frequently disgusted by the state of the psyche of sentient beings-“

“I have no idea what the fuck any of that means,” he grunted.

“Never mind, it’s not important,” I say.  “Look, honestly, I think it’s probably a whole lot easier to be a cunt than it is to be a good person, because when you’re a cunt, you’re only worrying about yourself.”

“And that’s supposed to cheer me up?”

“I didn’t realise that that’s what you needed,” I say.

He scowls.  “You’re right, Char would be better at this,” he says.

Johnny and Charlie come in again.  “Ver, join me for a cigarette,” Charlie says commandingly. 

“Didn’t you just smoke one with Johnny?” I ask.

“Did I ask for your opinion on my personal life?” she snaps.

“Right, sorry of course not,” I mumble.  I follow her onto the balcony.

Outside, she fixes me with an intense glare.  “You need to go with Johnny tomorrow,” she says.

“But I’ve already agreed to go with you,” I object.

“Boy, was I asking you a fucking question?” she says irritably.  “You need to go with Johnny because that motherfucker has a talent for getting himself into trouble, and seens as neither I nor Char nor Bigby can go with and bail him out, owing to prior commitments, you’ll have to do.”

“Um,” I say.

“Look, I know you’re a shitty fucking fighter and basically suck at everything other than writing and talking your way out of trouble, but right now, you’re going to need to get good,” she says.  “Fast.”

“But…”

“Ver, what I don’t need right now is excuses or complaints,” Charlie says.  “I need you to promise to go with and protect our brother.  Got it?”

I think about how Charlie refused to talk to me when I first joined Bigby’s crew, how she had always talked down to me with scorn or derision because I was weaker and slower than everyone else, because I never went hungry and always had a place to go to.

“Got it,” I say.  “I’ll make sure that Johnny gets out ok.”

“Good man,” Charlie says.  She hesitates, then claps me on my shoulder.  “You’re…you’re a good brother, Ver.”

I smile widely.  “Thanks,” I say.

.....

My mother is in the kitchen when I get home later that night when I go in there to grab myself a snack.  “Hey,” I mumble, grabbing a slice of bread from the freezer and sticking it into the toaster.

“Where were you today?” she asks.

“Out,” I say non-committally.

“With those Gozu thugs?” she asks icily.

“I wish you wouldn’t call them that, Mom,” I say.  “They’re not that bad.”

“What an endorsement, Varric,” she says sarcastically.

The toaster dings and I grab the toast out of it, burning my hand in the process.  I let out an expletive.

“Watch your mouth,” Mom snaps.

“Is there something I can do to help you, Mom?” I ask irritably, taking the varren paste from the fridge.

“You need to work on the accounts.”

“I already told Bartrum I’ll do it tomorrow,” I say.

“I have to say, I’m really proud of all the effort you’re putting into the family business,” she says, her voice dripping with irony.

“Not exactly as if the family business needs me,” I say.  “I’m pretty sure Bartrum has it covered.”  I kiss her cheek.  “Good night Mom.”

..... 

I toil away at the accounts the next morning, giving myself a headache and putting me in a generally bad mood.  I decide to visit the clinic during my lunch hour to give myself a break and to take food for Char and the others working there.

Char is sitting in the staff room, staring morosely at a datapad when I get there.  “Trying to solve the galaxy’s problems again?” I ask and she jumps.

“We’re running low on supplies,” she says, turning towards me.  She looks exhausted.  “What are you doing here?”

“Escaping,” I reply.

“Escaping?”

“Mathematics,” I say.  She looks even more confused.  “I’m busy with the office’s accounts at the moment,” I clarify.

“And you thought a hopped-up-on-stims-and-two-hours-of-sleep-a-night Cobweb would be able to help?” she asks, smiling slightly.

“Well, you can’t hurt,” I say.

“Tell that to the five patients I lost in the last three hours,” she says, no longer smiling.

“Any idea how long you’re still gonna be?” I ask, sitting opposite her.

“Well, apparently Mordin has been close to a cure the past eight days, so God knows,” she says.  She rubs a tired hand over her face. 

“You ok?” I ask quietly.

“Yeah, I’m just…” she sighs.  “I can’t help but think that I have chosen to do this for the rest of my life.  I love my job, don’t get me wrong.  I love that I can help people in such a meaningful way.  But there are so many people that I don’t help.  That I have to turn away because they’re not sick enough or whose lives are irrevocably changed because they are too sick and I don’t have enough options or resources.”

“And then there are the people’s lives you save,” I say.  “The people you change for the better.”

“Is it enough though?” she whispers.

I touch the back of her hand.  Char is usually the positive force in the group, the one who always believes in something better.  “Is it just the job that’s bothering you?” I ask.

She rolls her shoulders.  “I’m fine honestly,” she says.  “Honestly, I’m just tired and I don’t like losing patients.”

“I can understand that,” I say.  I inject some cheer in my voice.  “I brought you guys some food,” I say.  “Stew, bread, more coffee and I even managed to locate some bananas.”

“You’re amazing,” Char says, squeezing the top of my arm.  “You’re better than all of us,” Charlie’s voice rings in my head.

“Least I could do,” I say. “I know exactly how valuable what you’re doing for us is.”

Char puts the bag in the fridge.  “I’ll make sure the others get some of this as well,” she says.  “Thank you so much.”

“You’re welcome,” I answer.

..... 

I meet Johnny and Sidonis at the docks on Gozu District.  “This was the fighter you promised?” Sidonis asks, looking me up and down.

“His name’s Varric,” Johnny says.  “Ver, meet my boss, Sidonis.”

“He doesn’t look like much,” Sidonis says, giving me the side-eye.  “Isn’t he rather short for a human?  You promised a fighter, not a bearded midget.”

“All the good fighters are busy,” Johnny says sulkily.  “Although I agree he should shave.”

“I like to think the stubble adds distinction,” I say loftily.

“Oh shut up, Ver,” Johnny says.  He hands me a handgun.  “Here take this.”

“What am I supposed to do with this?” I ask.

“Paint a fucking picture you idiot, what do you think?”  he sighs.  “You know how to use that, right?”

“Sure,” I reply unconvincingly.

He rolls his eyes.  “Cock the gun, point it at whoever is threatening to fucking kill you and pull the trigger,” he says.

“Right,” I say.  “Um, and if that doesn’t work?”

“Throw it at ‘em,” Johnny replies.  “So, the Suns have a shipment coming in at the far end of the dock.  We follow them to wherever they happen to be taking the shipment sneak in and steal it.  We don’t want to fight here, it being so close to Afterlife and all.  If Aria’s men show up, we’re fucked.  Capiche?”

“One hundred per cent,” I say unconvincingly.

“Great,” he says.  “Let’s go.”

I stick the gun in my jeans and follow him and Sidonis up onto the rickety catwalk that overlooked the docks.

“You sure this thing will hold all three of us?” I ask.

“Yes,” Sidonis says, his voice filled with false bravado.  The catwalk seems to think otherwise as it gives an ominous creak.

“Cool,” I say. 

“Stop being a pussy, Ver, let’s go,” Johnny says, and leads the way confidently along the catwalk to the other end of the docks.  I follow more miserably, and Sidonis brings up the rear.

“Here, right?” Johnny asks Sidonis, who cocks his head.  Johnny aims his gun up at the light over our heads and shoots it down.  “Now we wait,” he says.  “Got any good stories, Ver?”

“Uh, there’s the love story I recently finished,” I say.

“I said good stories, Ver, not that bullshit.”

“Right,” I say.  “Then no.”

“Too bad,” Johnny says.  He launches into a long tale about his ‘date’ with Aisha, only stopping when Sidonis tells him to shut up.

“But I was just getting to the best part,” Johnny protests.

“They’re coming,” Sidonis says, cocking his chin towards the dock.

A frigate lands at the bay below and two men step out towards them.  “They’re not wearing colours?” I hiss at Johnny.

“They want to blend in,” Johnny replies in an undertone.  The two men speak earnestly to the pilot of the frigate.  “Can you hear what they’re saying?” Johnny asks Sidonis.

“Too far,” Sidonis whispers back. 

Something seems familiar about one of the men and I lean forward to try and get a better view.  A mistake, as it happens, when the entire catwalk creaks loudly.  I shrink back in the darkness as all three men on the dock turn to look up in our direction.

“Is someone out there?” I hear one of them call out.

One of the others says something to him, and he shrugs and they all turn away from us.  The frigate pilot hands the two men a backpack each, and they shake hands.  The two men leave the dock and the pilot gets back into the ship.

“They’re leaving,” Sidonis whispers into his omnitool.  The frigate takes off and disappears in the direction of the great beyond.

“Come on,” Johnny says, and leads us back off the catwalk.  “Kasumi, you have a position on them?”  he waits for an answer.  “Great, thanks.  Kasumi has them leaving along the main causeway, heading east.”

We exit the dock and head for the main causeway, which is busy as ever.  “There,” Sidonis says after a pause, pointing ahead of us.

“Good eyes,” I remark.

“Better than most humans at any rate,” comes the response.

We follow the two men down the causeway, eventually veering off into the alleys that made up most of Gozu District.

“Where are they taking us?” I mumble.

“Sh,” Johnny whispers.  “They’ll hear you.”

The alleys are considerably quieter than the causeway, and we don’t see any other people for quite some time. 

“Seriously, this is taking forever,” Johnny mumbles, clearly not fussed about ‘sh they’ll hear you’ any more.

At which point, the two men turn around.  “Shit,” Johnny exclaims.

“Back up, back up,” Sidonis orders tersely. 

A shot is fired over our shoulder as we turn and run.  “Motherfucker,” Johnny shouts, already several strides ahead of me as my feet slip out from under me and I fall hard on my belly.

Johnny hears me fall and turns back towards me.  “No,” I shout.  “Get out of here.”

He ignores me and runs back towards me, by which time the men have already reached me.  I see Sidonis turn the corner and disappear.  “I’m sorry,” I whisper to Johnny as he bends to help me up.

“Back up,” he shouts to the two men. 

“Well well, if it isn’t Rudy Goldenburg’s boy,” the slightly more familiar-looking one says.

“Get up, Varric,” Johnny says urgently, helping me up.  “Back off,” he shouts, pointing his gun at the men.  “We’re getting out of here.”

“How’re you going to do that with your bad leg?” the other man asks.

“What?”

There is a loud bang, a cloud of red and Johnny screams and collapses.  “You’ll be walking for a limp for the rest of your life,” the man says in satisfaction.

“That’s funny,” Johnny whispers.  “So will you.”  And he stabs his knife deep into the man’s thigh.

“Get out of here, Ver,” Johnny says tiredly, pointing his gun at the other man, who steps back and raises his hands.

“But-,”

“Bitch, do as I say,” he says.  “I’m not running any races with this leg, and I’ll be damned if I let them take you down too.  Get out of here.”

I nod once, and turn and jog in the direction Sidonis ran off in.  At the corner, I turn and look back.  The man has his foot on Johnny’s chest and is pointing his gun at him. 

..... 

I don’t stop running until I get to Johnny’s flat in Zeta District.  Please let Charlie be back, I pray silently, opening the door.

“Hey Ver, why you sweating?”  It’s Jane.

“Jane…what….never mind,” I say.  “Is Charlie in?  Or Bigby?”

“Don’t you want to know why I’m here and not locked up like some damsel in distress at my father’s place?” Jane asks.

“Not right at this moment now,” I say.  “I need Charlie or Bigby.  Are they here?”

“No,” Jane says, frowning slightly.  “What’s wrong?  Are you ok?”

I explain what had just happened, and Jane’s frown deepens until she looks thunderous.  “Those motherfuckers,” she explodes.  “I will fucking slaughter every one of them.  We have to rescue him.”

“I know, that’s why I’m looking for Bigby or Charlie,” I say.  My heart rate has slowed slightly, although I’m still trembling. 

Jane makes an angry noise in the back of her throat and presses some buttons on her omnitool.  “Bigby,” she says.  “Get to Johnny’s.  We have an A-Grade fucking problem.”

..... 

Charlie arrives within seconds of Bigby, and I explain again what had happened.  Predictably, Charlie explodes.  “I swear to the fucking almighty, there will be fucking deaths tonight,” she shouts.  “Heads are going to roll, starting with the motherfucker that shot Johnny and ending with the leaders of the Blue Suns.”

“You’re really going to kill your father?” Jane asks.

“It will be high fucking time,” Charlie snaps.  “I’ll be doing the galaxy a favour.”

“Let’s not be too hasty,” I say.

“I say we should be more fucking hasty,” Charlie shouts.  “Why are we sitting around talking?   Let’s get out there.”

“Out where?” I ask.  “No offence, Charlie, but Johnny could literally be anywhere in Suns territory.  We have no knowing of where he is.”

“We go up to the Suns house and demand that they fucking take us to Johnny or we burn the place down,” Charlie spits.

“We’ll be killed on sight,” I say.  “They know that we are his crew, they won’t let us within feet of the house.”

“You have a better plan?” Bigby asks, his face equally murderous.

“Arch Angel,” I say.  “He has men.  They can help us. And you two and Johnny are part of his group.  He has to help us.”

“We don’t have time to waste,” Charlie shouts.  “Johnny could already be-,”

“Think about it,” I say urgently, cutting her off.  “They won’t kill him yet.  They’ve probably figured out that he works with Arch Angel, and will pump him for information first before killing him.”

“Is that supposed to fucking make me feel better?”

“Our best bet of getting everyone out is to ask Arch Angel for help,” I insist.

“He’s right,” Bigby says.

“Bigby,” Charlie exclaims.

“Us getting killed is not going to help Johnny at all,” Bigby says.  “Garrus should help us.”

Charlie grinds her teeth in frustration.  “You’d better be right,” she tells me and I flinch.

“Jane, wait here,” Bigby says.

“Oh no, I’m coming with,” Jane says.

“I’m not having a debate with you right now,” Bigby snaps.  “You’re too young.”

“I’m the same age as Charlie.”

“You should stay here in case by some miracle Johnny has escaped and comes home,” I say swiftly.

She glares at me.  “Fuck all of you,” she snaps.

..... 

We are greeted at the door to Garrus’ by a quarian wearing a purple headscarf.  “Is Garrus in?” Bigby asks.

“What do you bosh’tets think you’re doing?” the quarian snaps.

“Huh?”

“Who is he?” she points her chin towards me.

“Oh, uh, that’s our friend Ver,” Bigby says. 

“A civilian,” she says.

“Sure, I guess you could say that,” Bigby says.  “Look, is Garrus here or not?”

“What makes you think I’m going to let you idiots in?” the quarian says irritably.

“Tali, this is kind of an emergency, so could you please…”

“You mean Johnny getting himself captured?” Tali asks.  “Don’t worry, we already know all about that.”

“You do?”

“Sidonis came running in here about an hour ago, shouting to everyone what happened,” Tali shrugs.  “Point is, I can’t let you in with a random stranger at your back.  I have to think about security.”

“That’s it,” Charlie snarls, pushing past Bigby and I and grabbing Tali by the neck.  “Listen here you fucking candy striper, my best friend is being held against his will by the Blue Suns and is likely being tortured or prepared for death, at least according to my much smarter friend over here.  Now you’re going to let us speak to Garrus before I beat your happy little ass so hard your momma won’t even recognise you, got it?”

Tali’s omnitool glows briefly and Charlie gives a yell of pain and drops Tali.  “Charlie, are you ok?” I ask.

“Ok, now you’re dead,” Charlie snarls, straightening again.  I’m quite impressed that Tali doesn’t appear at all afraid.

“Touch me and I’ll burn you again,” she says.

“What’s going on out here?” a voice asks.  It’s an asari maiden.

“Liara, we need to see Garrus,” Bigby says at once, as I grip Charlie’s arm (a futile gesture, given that she is both taller and stronger than I, but it makes me feel better).

Liara studies us all, her eyes landing on me.  She frowns slightly.  “Right this way,” she says at last.

“Seriously, Liara,” Tali protests at once.

“Save it,” Liara says irritably.  “Come on,” she says to us, and we follow her into the building.

“Thanks,” Bigby says grudgingly.

“I most certainly did not do it for you,” Liara snaps.  “You brought a civilian to our secret base.  Between you and your idiot friend, we are needing to move our operations.”

“Johnny didn’t ask to get captured, and if it wasn’t for him, Sidonis and I would have been caught too,” I say before I could stop myself.

“Be that as it may, Johnny is still likely being pumped for information on us and Garrus in particular,” Liara says.  “We are at risk.”

“Johnny would die before betraying us,” Charlie says angrily.  “Some of us know loyalty.”

“We’ll see about that,” Liara says.

Garrus is talking to a human woman when we enter what I presume is his office.  He looks exhausted.

“Garrus, I’m telling you, this is the right move,” the woman insists.

“We don’t play with lives,” Garrus says somewhat obtusely.

“In this case, I’m afraid we have to,” the woman says.  “We don’t have the resources to spare on this.”

“We need to talk to you,” Charlie says loudly.

“Thank you, Cas,” Garrus says to the woman, who nods and departs.  “I know why you’re here,” Garrus says to us.

“Yeah?” Charlie asks.  “Then you’ll know we need you to stage a rescue.”

“I understand the position that you’re in,” Garrus says.  “Johnny is like a brother to you.”

“Bitch, he is my brother,” Charlie snaps.

“Charlie, cool it,” Bigby says sharply.  She glares at him, but doesn’t say anything else.  He turns to Garrus.  “Johnny is loyal to you,” he says.  “He was captured doing a job for you.  Out of all of us, he’s probably the most dedicated to your cause, except maybe Char.  You can’t just leave him to die.”

Garrus hesitates slightly.  “You have all done exemplary work for me,” he says.  “You’re making more headway in the murders than we were able to.  And Charlie, your hair-brained operation was a success.  You are all assets to my team.  To lose anyone of you, including Johnny, would hurt us greatly.”

“Awesome,” Charlie says.  “So when do we leave?”

“We aren’t,” Garrus says delicately.

“What?”

“As much as it pains me, we don’t have the man-power to launch an all-out assault on the Blue Suns,” Garrus says.  “Much less we don’t know where they’re holding Johnny.”

Predictably, Charlie loses it.  She launches herself at Garrus, shouting and swearing.  Bigby grabs her around the waist and drags her backwards towards the door.

“I’ll fucking kill you, you fucking bird,” she screams before the door closes behind them.  “You’d better sleep with one fucking eye open.”

Garrus regards me impassively.  “And you, Varric Tathres,” he says.  “Is there something I can do to assist you?”

“You know who I am?” I ask, startled.

“Of course,” he says.  “I make a point of knowing all the associates of men.  And the associates of those associates.”

“Right,” I say uncomfortably.

“Your family keeps some colourful company,” he continues.

“That’s my family,” I say.  “Not me.  They mean nothing to me.”

“Yet I get the impression that your friends are unaware of the arrangement that your family has with the Blue Suns,” he says.

“I’m still alive, aren’t I?” I reply.  “Like I said, that’s my family.  I have very little approval for their dealings.  Which is why I hope we can come to an agreement.”

“You’re very bold, Mr Tethras.”

“Very desperate more like,” I say.  “I run the Tethras Mines accounts, which puts me in the very convenient position to have credits disappear from our account into someone else’s.  say, your vigilante crew’s?”

“You’d steal from your own family?”  I nod.  “Why?” he asks in bemusement.

“Because my family is very rich but underpays all its employees,” I say.  “Because working twelve hours a day in an eezo mine from the time you’re twelve or thirteen guarantees that you will be dead by the time you turn forty five, and yet my family incentives working long shifts.”

“And you think I can offer people better?” Garrus asks after a pause.

“I think you bring change,” I reply.  “Change that Omega desperately needs.”

“What would you want in return?” he asks.

“Rescue Johnny Gat,” I say simply.

“You’d be willing to risk your family’s livelihood for him?”

“There’s nothing I wouldn’t risk for my crew.”

..... 

Charlie and Bigby are waiting across the alley from the house.  “What took you so long?” Charlie asks grouchily.

“I was striking a deal with Garrus,” I say.  “He’s looking for Johnny as we speak.”

“What kind of a deal?” Bigby asks.

“Tethras family is officially the main donor towards Arch Angel’s vigilante crew,” I say.

“Are you insane?” Bigby exclaims.  “Why would you do that?”

“Because we weren’t going to be able to find Johnny on our own, which means that we need Garrus’ help,” I say.

“Yes, but…you shouldn’t even be mixed up in all of this,” Bigby says in frustration.  “I’m already royally fucking pissed at Johnny for even taking you along on the job, but now you’re officially in Garrus’ pocket?”

“So what?” I ask irritably.  “I want to help.  I can help.”

“No, what you can do is sit at home like a good boy and not get involved in this shit,” Bigby says.  I can see he’s angry now, but I stand my ground, despite my quivering knees.

“You may be able to tell Jane what to do because you don’t want to get into trouble with her parents, but no one in my family gives a damn about me,” I say.  “So I’m staying.  And you can’t make me leave.”

Bigby makes an annoyed noise in the back of his throat before stalking off to the corner of the alley.

I slump my shoulders and let out a sigh.  “Garrus said someone will call us when they have Johnny’s location,” I say to Charlie.

“Do you have any idea how royally you’ve fucked up, Ver?” she asks hotly.

“Oh not you too,” I groan.

“Yes me too, you fucking little idiot,” she snaps.  “You shouldn’t be involved in this business.  It’s bad fucking news for you.”

“Look, I get it, you all think I’m weak,” I say, annoyed.  “I’m weak, I’m a coward and I don’t deserve to be a part of your crew.”

Charlie arches an eyebrow in surprise.  “You really think I think that?” she asks.  She rubs her forehead.  “Lookit, remember the other day when I said that you’re better than all of us, that wasn’t an insult, and it wasn’t me saying you lord yourself over us.  We’re all products of where we come from, there’s no hope for us anymore.  Chances are we’ll all be dead before we turn twenty, and we all know this.  Even Jane.  She may come from Citadel, but she’s as fucked as Char, Johnny, Bigby and me.  There’s still a chance for you though.  You can maybe get off of Omega, make something of your life that is more than just violence and hatred.  That’s why Bigby is pissed.  You have hope and you’re throwing it down the fucking toilet.”

“I don’t care,” I say stubbornly.  “I’ll do what I need to in order to protect my family.  And you’ll live to be a hundred.”

She rolls her eyes.  “You’re a fucking idiot, Ver, but thank you,” she says.  “We all owe you big time.”

..... 

Tali eventually comes out and tells us to go home, saying that she’d call as soon as they had a location on Johnny.  Jane is sitting on the sofa when we get back, her eyes blazing.  Swineheart is asleep next to her.

“I take it Johnny hasn’t come back?” Charlie asks.  Jane shakes her head and Charlie kicks the table hard.  Swineheart wakes up with a loud squeal. 

“Don’t tell me Arch Angel won’t help,” Jane gasps.

“Oh he’ll help,” Bigby says, glaring at me.

“Ok,” Jane says slowly.  “So why are you looking at Ver like he just murdered your cat?”

“Never you mind,” Bigby snaps.

Jane raises her eyebrows at me and I shake my head.  “Charlie, wanna come with to grab dinner?” she asks instead.

Charlie heaves a sigh.  “Sure,” she says.  “Beats sitting around waiting.”

They leave and I sit on the sofa.  A few moments later Bigby sits in the easy chair.  There’s an uncomfortable silence.

“Look, I get that you’re mad at me,” I say after a pause.

“Damn fucking straight I’m mad at you,” Bigby snaps.

“But I’m fifteen,” I say.  “I am old enough to decide for myself.”

“You are going to end up getting yourself killed,” Bigby says.  “I know you’re excited by the thought of death, but the rest of us don’t really want that to happen.”

I shrug.  “I won’t die,” I say. 

Bigby sighs.  “If you say so,” he says.  A few moments later, he’s asleep.

Unable to stay still, I get up and go to the kitchen to find something to entertain myself.  On the counter are sheets of paper with childlike scrawls on them, evidence of Charlie, Bigby and Johnny’s writing practice.  In the corner are the bags of sand that Charlie and Johnny use for their weight-training.  The cupboards and fridge are predictably bare, although there is a half-eaten bag of cookies in the cutlery drawer. 

The door to the flat opens.  “Do you guys think cookies will go well with nutrient paste?” I ask, not looking up.

“Yo Ver, is Johnny in?” a woman who is definitely not Jane or Charlie asks.

I look up and see Aisha. 

Crap.

..... 

Bigby wakes up and we explain what happened.  Halfway through our story, Jane and Charlie return.  There’s a ringing silence when we finish talking.  “But Garrus has people out looking for him, right?” Aisha asks.  “You’re going to find him and bring him home safely?  Right Bigby?”

“We’re doing our best,” Bigby answers, his face expressionless.

“Oh God,” Aisha whispers, and covers her face.  “God, I was afraid of something like this happening.”

Bigby takes her hand.  “We’ll get him back Eesh,” he says.  “Johnny’s a tough motherfucker and Garrus will let us know when they have his location.  Charlie and I will go out and get him, and kill every one of the cunts that hurt him.”

“You promise?” Aisha whispers.

“Of course I do.”

“Don’t you be worrying, Eesh,” Charlie says viciously, twirling a knife between her fingers.  “Those fuckers will feel pain like they never felt before.  They’ll wish they never heard the name Johnny Gat before they die.”

“Thanks,” Aisha says, her voice hoarse.  “Johnny is lucky to have you guys in his crew.”

“Damn fucking straight he is,” Charlie says.  “You wanna camp out here whilst we wait?”

“If you don’t mind,” Aisha says.  She hesitates.  “Should we, you know, tell his mother?”

Bigby shakes his head.  “No need to worry her just yet,” he says impassively.

We try playing a very half-hearted game of cards, but abandon it almost immediately when it becomes clear that no one is paying any attention to it.  Instead, we all stare at the wall, lost in thought.

What feels like hours later, Bigby’s omnitool beeps, indicating an incoming call.  “Yeah,” he says, answering.  “Alright, we’ll be there.  Thanks.”  He hangs up.  “They have Gat,” he says.  “They’re moving on the location in an hour.  Garrus wants Charlie and me to join.”

“I’m coming with,” Jane says at once.

“Absolutely not,” Bigby says automatically.

“You can’t tell me what to do, Bigby,” Jane says angrily.

“No, but I can call your dad and tell him to fetch you,” he snaps. 

“You wouldn’t,” Jane says.

“Fucking try me,” Bigby says.  “In fact, shouldn’t you be going home in any case?  You just got paroled.”

“I’m not going home until I know that Johnny is safe,” Jane shouts.

Bigby scowls and presses a button on his omnitool.  “Mr Shepard, this is Bigby-uh-Brian Wolf, Sarah Wolf’s son,” he says.

“You fucking bastard,” Jane snarls. 

Bigby ignores her.  “Jane is at my friend Benjamin’s house and is refusing to go home,” he says.  “I know that you will do anything in your power to keep her safe, and that you have a lot of power, being an employee of Aria and all.  Last thing I want to do is make her mad, so if you’d be willing to come pick Jane up.”

“Fucking fine,” Jane shouts.  “I’m going.”

“Never mind, Mr Shepard, seems Jane is going on her own,” Bigby says, his face impassive.  “Sorry to have troubled you. Have a nice evening.”

Jane clips a leash onto Swineheart’s collar.  “You’re fucking dead to me, Bigby,” she snaps.

“I’ll walk you home,” I say.

“Go fuck yourself, Ver,” she says harshly.  “Good luck to all of you.  Hope you don’t fucking die or anything, God forbid.”

And she storms out of the flat, slamming the door loudly behind her.  Bigby sighs.  “Let her go,” he says.  “Her dad is in the area in any case.  He’ll find her.  Aisha, you’re waiting here?”

“Of course I am,” Aisha says.

“Great,” Bigby says.  “You two ready?”

“Hell yeah, player,” Charlie says.  “Let’s go spill some blood.”

..... 

I was ten, the first time I tried to kill myself.  I swallowed a bottle of my mother’s painkillers and woke up with vomit all down my front and a headache from hell.  I showered and went to the office with my father.  No one was any the wiser.

The second time, when I was thirteen, I was better prepared.  I “borrowed” one of Char’s anatomy books and studied up which was the best way to end my life.  After much debate, I settled on slashing my femoral and radial arteries.  Obviously a gunshot to the head would be ideal, but I didn’t want to leave too much of a mess for our trusty indentured servant Bodahn to clean up.  This was why I decided to cut my wrists and thigh in the bath.

I woke up with a blonde man standing above me.  “Am I dead?” I rasped out.

“Unfortunately for you, no,” the man replied.  “My name is Alex Gareon.  I am the head Cobweb at the clinic in Gozu.”

“Char’s boss,” I mumbled.  My head was throbbing.

“So you know Char?” Alex asked, delighted.  “One of my most talented apprentices.”

I tried to rub my head, only to be stopped by a sharp tugging in the crook of my elbow.  I looked down and saw a drip that was pumping blood into my arm connected to it.

“Where’d you get blood?” I asked in confusion.  Resources were always an issue at the clinic.

“My son and I are both O-negative,” Alex said.  “Universal donors.”

“Right,” I mumbled.  “How did I get here?”

“Your brother found you in the bath and had a few of his workers bring you in,” Alex replied.  “Lucky for you really.  A few more minutes and you wouldn’t have made it.”

“I don’t feel all that lucky,” I answered.

“No I don’t suppose you do.”  He regarded me a few minutes. 

“You’re wondering why someone who has everything would want to die,” I said at last, to break the silence.

“Mine is not the place to judge,” Alex said. 

“I’m not who my family wants me to be,” I explained.  I could feel tears leaking out of the corners of my eyes.  “And they’ll never accept anyone else.”

He watched me a few more moments.  “Varric, we are only in this godforsaken galaxy a few short decades,” he said at last.  “Use that time to be happy.”

..... 

Garrus is waiting for us with Sidonis and a hooded woman I don’t recognise outside a warehouse in Gozu District.  “Small squad,” Charlie remarks.

“Less chance of mistakes,” Garrus responds.  “He’s in there.  I’m going to go to roof of that building and snipe in a tank of tear gas.  After that, the rest of you breach.  Clear out everyone who is inside and get Gat out alive.  Above all, stay alive.  Got it?”

“Yeah whatever, can you just get on with it for the love of the merciful lord?” Charlie snaps.

Garrus gives a slight chuckle.  “Alright let’s get into position,” he says.

I follow Bigby and Charlie to the doors of the warehouse and pull the pistol that Johnny had given me earlier out of the waistband of my jeans.

“You know how to use that thing?” Bigby whispers at me.

“Johnny showed me earlier,” I whisper back, nodding.

Bigby snorts but doesn’t say anything else.  “We’re in position,” the woman says quietly into her omnitool.

There’s a splintering sound and we are showered with broken glass.  “Breach,” Sidonis orders tersely, and kicks in the door of the warehouse.

Indoors is chaos as the guards are simultaneously running around and coughing up a storm.  My eyes immediately start watering as the fumes from the gas hits me.  “We couldn’t get masks?” I ask and start coughing.

“Suck it up,” the woman says.  “You’ll be fine.”

“Throw down your weapons,” Sidonis shouts.

“Fuck that,” Charlie snarls and fires at the nearest figure.

“Are you insane?” Sidonis shouts as the chaos intensifies.

“Maybe,” Charlie says seriously, aiming at another person visible through the mist.

“Get to the back door,” I hear someone shout as her gun goes off again.

“You’ll hit Gat,” the woman says angrily.

“Oh fine,” Charlie sighs.  “Yo pussies,” she calls into the mist.  “Throw down your weapons or whatever.”

“I’m pretty sure their gone,” I say as I hear a door slamming ahead of us.

“Shut the fuck up, Ver,” she snaps.  “Where’s Johnny?”

“Through here,” a weak voice calls and we follow it into an office type room at the back of the warehouse.

Johnny is tied to a chair that has been knocked over and is lying on its side.  “Oh my God,” Charlie gasps.

His face has been beaten into a pulp and his left knee is a mess of blood and bone.  “Hey guys, great to see you,” he says with false cheer.  “Would you be so kind as to get me out of this fucking chair?” he bellows the last part of the sentence.

“Right,” Charlie says.

She, Bigby and I pull the chair upright and Johnny hisses as his leg is jostled.  “Did you kill these motherfuckers?” he asks.

“No,” Bigby says.  “Well, Charlie killed two.”

“Of course she did, she’s the only one of you bitches that has any sense,” Johnny says.

“Shut up,” Charlie says, but her voice is quivering.  Bigby cuts through the cords binding Johnny with his switchblade.

“Come on, we need to get you to the clinic,” he says to Johnny.

“Yeah, no shit,” Johnny says.  “I just hope you’re up for carrying me.”

..... 

I avoided Bigby and his crew when I was discharged from the clinic after my suicide attempt.  In fact, I avoided pretty much everything, locking myself up in my office at the mines from morning to night and burying myself in my work.  One night, as I was walking from the shuttle stop home however, I bumped into Johnny.

He seemed as surprised to see me as I was to see him.  “Ver,” he exclaimed.  “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“I live here,” I said, bemused.

“What here?” he asked.

“Well, around the corner from here, but yeah,” I said.  “What are you doing here?”

“Why, visiting my favourite rich bitch from Tuhi of course,” he said, putting his arm around my shoulder.  “We’ve missed you, man.  How’ve you been?”

I looked him up and down, taking in his dark clothes and the beanie on his head and raised an eyebrow.  “You planning a burglary?” I asked mildly.

“No, I…shit,” he stuttered.  “Look, please don’t tell Char ok?  She’ll freak the fuck out if she found out.”

“Char doesn’t mind if you steal,” I said.  “Does she?”

“She’s worried what’ll happen if I get caught,” he explained.  “It’ll damage her rep at the clinic.  Also, I guess she cares for us or whatever.”

“How dare she,” I said, now amused.

“Tell me about it, it’s like having a fucking mother,” Johnny groaned.  “But I guess since you’ve made me, I don’t have to worry about that anymore.  See you around, right?”

He turned to leave.

“Johnny, you wanna come over?” I blurted out.  He turned to stare at me.  “My mom’s visiting my grandmother and my brother is still at work.  You can clean our fridge out.  We have more food than we know what to do with.  You’re welcome to take what you need.”

“Seriously?” Johnny asked.

“We have bacon,” I said.

“I’m Jewish you fucking asshole,” he snapped.

“Right,” I said.  “Didn’t know you were devout.”

“I’m just fucking with you, Ver, lead on.”

..... 

Char is released from her duties at the clinic later that week.  We are all at Johnny’s flat, since he had been discharged under strict orders to rest his knee for at least a couple more weeks and he needed help doing pretty much everything.

She looks dreadful.  Her hair is unwashed and tied in a messy bun on top of her head and her face is grey with exhaustion.  She seems to have lost several pounds.

“Hey,” Bigby exclaims, jumping up and grabbing her backpack from her hand.  “Sit down.  Jane, get some of the stew for her.”

He steers her gently to the sofa and sits her down next to Johnny.  “You alive?” Johnny asks her.

“Barely,” she mumbles.  Jane hands her the stew.  “Thanks,” she says.

“No prob,” Jane says.  “Charlie cooked it with potatoes and beats.  It’s pretty good.”

“They cured the plague?” Charlie asks, watching as Char eats the stew.

“Yeah, Alex, Felix and Mordin got back earlier this morning,” Char answers.  “I caught up on some paperwork before coming here.  How’s the knee, Johnny?”

“Sore, but not too bad,” he answers.  “And I’m staying off it like you said.  And…well, thanks, you know.  For not cutting my leg off.”

“Any time,” Char answers. 

“Did you get into trouble?” Jane asks.

Char shrugs.  “Nothing I can’t handle,” she says.  “But I don’t mind.  I’d do it again.”  She finishes her stew.  "Johnny, can I crash here?  I’m not in the mood to see my dad right now.”

“Of course,” Johnny says at once.  “Take the bed.  Sleep as long as you need.”

“I only have to be back day after tomorrow, so I’ll definitely take you up on that,” she says.  She makes it to the door before stopping.  “Shit, I almost forgot,” she says.  “Bigby, we got a match on the last person to sleep with Lily.”

“Yeah?” Bigby asks.

“You’re not going to like it,” she says.

He pulls a face.  “Tell me,” he says.

“Icabod Crane.”


End file.
